The White Sox could be making a huge mistake with their handling of Miguel Vargas

Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer in Chicago, and this year it brought some big news out of Rate Field.

Prior to Friday’s series opener against the Texas Rangers, the White Sox sent struggling first baseman Andrew Vaughn down to the minor leagues for his first ever Triple-A action. Vaughn was the third overall pick in 2019 and the White Sox have been waiting for his bat to break out.

Vaughn is yet to be an above average hitter at the Major League level, and he was off to the worst start of his career in 2025 before being sent down.

Joining Vaughn in returning to Charlotte is Tim Elko, a rather surprising move considering his three homers in 10 big league games. Elko seemed to be the heir apparent to the first base job if the Sox ever pulled the trigger on demoting Vaughn.

Miguel Vargas to first base?

With both of the obvious first base candidates now off the roster, Sox fans began to wonder what the team was planning to do at first base in the short term.

As evidenced by the defensive alignments over the weekend and comments from GM Chris Getz, the Sox are planning to use Lenyn Sosa and Miguel Vargas at first base consistently.

Vargas and Sosa have both shown the ability to play multiple positions this year, and Sosa has never been known as a great defender.

Sosa has already made a critical error at first base after getting the start there on Sunday. He did not have hit foot on the base in the 9th inning, and it cost Chicago the game.

Vargas needs to stay at third

In the case of Vargas, it’s worth wondering why a move from third base is necessary. Before some recent struggles, Vargas looked much improved defensively at third in 2025. He has certainly showed the capability of making the plays there.

The overall numbers are a bit deflated at the moment, but Vargas has graded as a slightly above-average defender for the majority of the season so far. For a guy who moved around a ton in 2024 and struggled both offensively and defensively, getting some consistency has been beneficial in both aspects of the game Moving him around again may not be ideal for his development.

As seen with Yoán Moncada a few years ago, being in a new or uncomfortable position on defense can impact offensive output as well. With Vargas finally starting to look like the top 100 prospect he used to be, it doesn’t make much sense to change things. If it’s not broken, why fix it? 

Until Colson Montgomery is ready for Chicago, the alternative to Vargas seems to be more at-bats for Josh Rojas, who is much better suited for a utility role off the bench.

With Korey Lee’s return from the IL imminent, and now six outfielders on the Major League roster, Vargas moving to first base does little to solve the logjam of position players between Chicago and Charlotte.

It remains to be seen how long this change will last, as Chris Getz expressed confidence that both Vaughn and Elko will be back in Chicago at some point this season. The possibility also remains that Vargas will exceed expectations at first base. But it seems that this problem could’ve been solved in a more efficient way.

The White Sox had the opportunity to address an impending roster crunch, but are instead playing with fire.