July 2nd, 2019 at 2:30 pm 
by Ron Cervenka ThinkBlueLA has learned from a trusted source that 19-year-old corner infielder Miguel Vargas has been promoted to the Dodgers Advanced Single-A affiliate Rancho Cucamonga Quakes from the Low Single-A Great Lakes Loons.
In the 70 games in which the La Habana, Cuba native appeared in with the Loons, he had a team-best .325 batting average, with five home runs, 20 doubles, two triples, and 45 RBI. He also stole nine bases, while posting a .901 fielding percentage in his 59 games as the Loons third baseman (16 errors in 162 total chances) and a perfect 1.000 FPCT in his two games as the Loons first baseman (0 errors in 18 total chances. For good measure, he also appeared in two games at second base, where he committed one error in seven chances for a .857 FPCT.
Heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres), the Quakes, who won the Cal League South first-half, are 46-34 on the season, whereas the Storm are 42-38. That being said, Tuesday night’s contest will feature Dodgers 19th overall ranked right-hander Josiah Gray against Padres 2017 first-round (third overall) draft pick left-hander MacKenzie Gore, so it should be a great one at LoanMart Field tonight.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
Play Ball!
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UPDATED: July 2, 2019 at 5:30 pm PT
Vargas will make his Cal League debut with the Quakes tonight at third base.
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Posted in 
Just as I thought from tuning in to those last two Great Lakes games, Dodger brass was indeed waiting for Vargas’ power tool to finally click and man did it ever: BACK-TO-BACK 2-HR performances and these were NOT “cheapies”, either! Praying his promotion to High-A Rancho means that Devin Mann finally gets that overdue call-up to AA Tulsa at long last.
Sidenote: Grove already started last night’s Quakes game (did rather well for someone still projected to be a late-inning bullpen arm at this rate). Scheduled starter should be Josiah Gray since he’d be pitching on his regular 5-days’ rest tonight. Not sure why the MiLB site would botch that up, heh.
Got it straight from the Quakes website. Already fixed it.
The 9 stolen bases surprised me. Dream IF of the future:
3B: Hoese
SS: Lux
2B: Downs/Estevez
1B: Vargas
C: Ruiz/Smith
Might be more like this:
3B-Hoese
SS-Downs/Valera(?)
2B-Lux/Amaya (Estevez looks like prime trade bait to be)
1B-Seager/Vargas (one of them’s gonna get flipped, though).
C-Smith (I see Ruiz getting flipped as well; Dodgers not running out of C prospects anytime soon, plus Smith is the better all-around player at that spot by comparison)
Good call on Amaya. Like him a lot. In addition to Estevez, C. Santana (3B) could be expendable as well. Let’s also hope we sign Busch for the IF.
Devin Mann tearing up high A as a 3B/2B. The future is bright indeed.
Mann’s trade bait as well since his “best” position is the same as Vargas and Hoese (3B). Have yet to see him play any 1B, but he’s rather positionless when it comes down to it due to him not sicking out all that much defensively. It was his bat that got him drafted in the first place, anyway. Could happen to be one of those pieces that lands the Dodgers their key late-inning bullpen arm at the trade deadline next month, you never know…
When injured players return:
Freese replaces Rios
Seager replaces Beaty
Pollock replaces Garlick
Alexander replaces Rosscup
And not a moment too soon, Vargas not only tallied his first Cal League hit against one of the top pitching prospects in the minors in MacKenzie Gore tonight, he also drove in the game-tying AND game-winning runs in the bottom of the 9th for the Quakes! If THAT doesn’t propel him right into the Top 10 on the Dodger prospect list by the end of the season, I honestly don’t know what else will. Dodger SP prospect Josiah Gray also matched Gore pitch-for-pitch yet again, both pitchers could very well be on their way to AA-ball after their successful outings tonight (Gore especially, man do the Padres have a special arm right there). What a day it has been for the Dodgers organization overall…
🙂