Chicago White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas hit the only home run of Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia, a solo shot to left field in the eighth inning that closed out the American League’s 4-0 win. Dylan Cease started and won it for the AL, which scored three in the first inning and held the National League to three hits all night.
Vargas finished 1-for-2. The other two Sox All-Stars, first baseman Munetaka Murakami and outfielder Tristan Peters, each went 0-for-1 with a strikeout. Modest lines, but the fact that Chicago sent three players to the game at all is the story of this first half: the White Sox reached the break at 50-45, holding first place in the AL Central by percentage points over Cleveland (51-46, .526 for both clubs) after winning their last three before the break. MLB Trade Rumors notes Chicago also leads the season series between the two, which is why the Guardians currently sit in the wild-card column.
The homer was fitting, because power is how this roster climbed the standings. Chicago’s 129 home runs rank fourth in the majors, and the core of the total belongs to three hitters age 26 or younger: Colson Montgomery with 23, Vargas with 21 and Murakami with 20. The Chicago Sun-Times notes they are just the second trio of Sox teammates to reach 20 home runs before the break, joining Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko in 2006. Vargas has paired his 21 homers with 59 RBIs, an .848 OPS and 11 steals; Murakami, a late addition to the AL roster, has needed only 60 games to reach 20 homers and carries a .911 OPS; Peters is hitting .301 with an .832 OPS from center field.
An honest word about that first-place line: a .526 winning percentage leads this division, and nobody should confuse it with a finished product. What it buys the young core is 67 games that all mean something, starting Friday when the Sox open the second half against the Blue Jays in Toronto.
For fantasy purposes, Vargas is the every-week play of the group — 21 homers and 11 steals with an .848 OPS covers multiple categories. Murakami’s .911 OPS makes him a locked-in corner infielder despite the shortened first half, and Peters helps batting average without hurting anything else. Montgomery is the one to handle by format: 23 homers plays anywhere, but the .220 average makes him a liability in average-sensitive leagues.
