Athletes - Jason Vargas

Home > Listing Index > Athletes > Jason Vargas

	Athletes - Jason Vargas

Jason M. Vargas (born February 2, 1983 in Apple Valley, California) is a left-handed starting pitcher for the Florida Marlins.

Biography

Childhood and high school

Jason spent a lot of time around the Victor Valley baseball team for which his father was the coach. As a high school player Vargas' mental and emotional make-up impressed those around him. He was all-San Bernardino County as a junior but not as a senior, when his Apple Valley team failed to make the CIF playoffs.

Jason was not switched from right-handed to left-handed. He was ambidextrous for a short while in his early years and at some time eventually made the natural progression into being left-handed.

College years

Vargas was drafted by Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins with the 1,273rd pick in the 2001 amateur draft. Jason declined and decided to go to Louisiana State University. As a freshmen at LSU, Vargas went 1-1 with a 3.43 ERA in 13 games. However, Vargas decided to transfer out of LSU after the 2001 season to Cypress for the 2003 season, picking a junior college so he would still be eligible for the draft. He was the Southern California junior college player of the year for his work on the mound and at the plate. However, as the season wore on, his arm slot dropped; and his velocity fell into the mid-80s. That, combined with Vargas' signing bonus demands, depressed his draft stock, so he went undrafted.

Vargas headed to Long Beach State for his senior year. He liked the school's history of producing major league talent and liked the school's hard-nosed mentality even more, especially after getting a recommendation from former Dirtbag J.J. Newkirk, who played for Vargas' father Joe at Victor Valley. Vargas arrived at LBS with a new work ethic determined to improve upon his year at Cypress College. Vargas also proved a fast learner. At Long Beach, he learned to keep his top half aligned with his lower half over the rubber and not drift toward the plate as he twisted through his delivery. The tweak allowed Vargas to repeat his mechanics and keep his arm higher, which in turn increased the velocity on his fastball and improved the break on his curveball. The new work ethic paid off, and in 2004 Vargas went 7-6 with a 4.14 ERA in 18 games on the mound, while hitting .354 with 14 doubles and five home runs as the team's designated hitter.

Professional baseball

The Marlins drafted Vargas out of Long Beach State with their second-round pick in the 2004 MLB draft and signed by scout Robby Cosaro; he was a collegiate teammate of Jered Weaver, who was the Los Angeles Dodgers' first-round pick in 2004. Vargas was the 68th player taken overall in the draft. He signed with the Marlins in time to make eight starts with their low class A affiliate, the Jamestown Jammers, with whom he went 3-1 with an earned run average of 1.96. He finished 2004 with three starts at the end of the 2004 campaign with one of the Marlins' Class A affiliates, the Greensboro Grasshoppers of the South Atlantic League. He had a record of 2-1, an ERA of 2.37, and struck out 17 batters in 19 innings pitched.

Vargas was then promising enough that Baseball America listed him 8th among the Marlins' top 10 prospects for 2005; those above him included Jeremy Hermida, Scott Olsen, and Yorman Bazardo, among others. Baseball America predicted that Vargas would start the season in Greensboro and finish it in advanced Class A with the Jupiter Hammerheads; Vargas would very easily surpass that expectation during the 2005 season.

Vargas did start the 2005 season with Greensboro, as was expected, but he advanced quickly through the Marlins' minor-league system. He made five starts with Greensboro, going 4-1 with an earned run average of just 0.80. He was then promoted to Jupiter, where he went 2-3 with a 3.42 ERA in nine starts; while there, he struck out 60 batters in 55 1/3 innings. With his third club of the year, the Class AA Carolina Mudcats, he made three starts, going 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 19 innings pitched.

The Marlins noticed Vargas's success in the minor leagues and, when faced with injuries to their own pitching staff, decided to make him the fourth Mudcats pitcher to play in the major leagues in 2005 (the others were Logan Kensing, Olsen, and Bazardo). He made his major-league debut on July 14, 2005, the same day on which the Marlins designated veteran starter Al Leiter for assignment. His first start in the majors would come on July 18 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Unlike Kensing, Olsen, and Bazardo, Vargas enjoyed nearly immediate success upon his arrival in the major leagues, and after Ismael Valdéz returned from a leg injury, the Marlins moved Brian Moehler to the bullpen and left Vargas in their rotation. On August 21, Vargas pitched his first complete game in the majors, giving up one run on six hits and striking out seven. He finished the season with a record of 5-5 and a 4.03 ERA. Vargas received one third-place vote from the Baseball Writers of America in the 2005 MLB Rookie of the Year voting.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Jason Vargas ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Jason Vargas; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Athletes - Jason Vargas

Biography

Childhood and high school

College years

Professional baseball

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay