Vargas, another elite SS of the future of the Yankees

I don’t think any other major league team has as much talent on their farms as the Yankees have at shortstop. It’s as if the team’s management has become obsessed with getting the next Derek Jeter.

Today I want to talk a little about Alexander Vargas. This young talent from the largest of the Antilles is ranked 12th among the first 50 prospects of the Bronx Bombers. At only 20 years old, the Cuban shortstop and switch hitter has left much to talk about and everything positive about what his future in baseball may be.

The signing of Vargas was not easy at all, in fact, it became a pitched fight between the Cincinnati Reds and the Yankees. Even though the Reds couldn’t go over $300,000 in international bonuses, the deal with Vargas seemed tight, but the Bombers wanted to sign the Cuban no matter what, and they got down to business and made a couple of trades. First, they sent Caleb Frare to the Chicago White Sox and then they offered the Cardinals the services of Mexican Giovanni Gallegos and Chase Shreve (this without forgetting that they grabbed Luke Voit in the deal) and then gave him $2.5 million. to Alexander.

Before escaping from Cuba to pursue his dream of being a professional baseball player, this young man aroused so much attention from everyone at the Schools for Athletes (EIDE or ESPA, according to its acronym in Spanish), that at just 15 years old, he went on to play in youth leagues with 17 and 18 year olds.

Scouts consider Vargas to have a very good sense of the strike zone on both sides of the plate and have really liked his ability on the bases. Defensively, Alexander possesses an excellent arm and has very fast arm and footwork, this allows him to get to difficult balls, covering impressive ground. His height of 5-11 and weight of 148 pounds does not make him a big player and his hitting power is something that does not appear in his scouting report, however, Vargas is working hard on strengthening his legs to print more power in your connections.

Major League projections put him as a candidate to reach the big leagues as soon as 2023 and his report shows a 55 in hitting, 40 in power, 65 in running, 55 in his arm strength, 60 in fielding and an overall of 45.

I remind you that the list of shortstops that are among the first Yankees prospects has names like: Anthony Volpe (1st), Oswald Peraza (3rd), Trey Sweeney (7th) and Vargas himself in 12th place.

It will definitely be interesting to see what the Bombers do with all these guys, who fight for the dream of following in the footsteps of “Captain” Derek Jeter, who left an indelible mark with the New York Yankees.