Miguel Vargas, Bobby Miller, Diego Cartaya named to roster for Futures Game at Dodger Stadium

Folks have been clamoring for Miguel Vargas and Bobby Miller to be called to Dodger Stadium for a good chunk of the season. On Saturday, July 16, they will get their wish.

Miller and Vargas will join 20-year-old catcher Diego Cartaya, the Dodgers’ top three prospects, on the National League roster for the MLB Futures Game as part of All-Star festivities in Los Angeles.

Cartaya and Miller were named among the top-100 prospects in MLB entering the season by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, ESPN, The Athletic, FanGraphs, and MLB Pipeline. Cartaya had an average preseason ranking of 30th, with Miller averaging 60th.

Vargas was named a top-100 prospect on four of those lists, including in the top 40 by Baseball Prospectus and Baseball America. All three moved up the list on MLB Pipeline’s midseason update released earlier this week — Cartaya improved from 28th to 14th, Miller shot up from 57th to 27th, and Vargas went from 94th to 72nd.

Vargas is the closest to the majors, in that he’s excelling in Triple-A at age 22. hitting .292/.379/.498, a 118 wRC+ with 13 home runs and 35 extra-base hits in 79 games for Oklahoma City. Vargas leads the Pacific Coast League in hits (92) and runs scored (67), and he’s in the top five in the league in total bases (157), extra-base hits, and doubles (18), all with a minuscule strikeout rate (15.4 percent), well below the league-wide rate (23.3 percent).

Miller isn’t far down the pecking order in terms of potential contributors, posting a 4.45 ERA in 14 starts for Double-A Tulsa, including striking out 10 in six scoreless innings on Sunday. The Dodgers’ first-round draft pick in 2020 has 73 strikeouts (a 27.7-percent K rate) and 24 walks in 62⅔ innings. Miller had a nice experience in an exhibition game at Dodger Stadium this year, tossing three scoreless innings in an April preseason Freeway Series start against the Angels.

Cartaya, the Dodgers’ top prospect, started the season in Low-A Rancho Cucamonga, where he ended last season, and was promoted to High-A Great Lakes on May 31. He’s thrived at both levels, hitting a combined .283/.421/.556 with 14 home runs and 18 doubles in 56 games. He hasn’t played the Loons’ last two games after leaving Sunday’s game with an apparent injury to his hand/wrist area.

Former Dodgers catcher and Angels manager Mike Scioscia will manage the National League in the Futures Game, with longtime Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who played for the Dodgers in 2015, will manage the American League team.

Several former Dodgers are on the the coaching staffs for the game, including Adrián Béltre (AL hitting coach), Shawn Green (NL hitting coach), Eric Davis (NL first base coach), Ken Landreaux (NL bench coach), Edwin Jackson (AL pitching coach), and Dan Haren (NL pitching coach). Current Dodgers minor league assistant minor league medical coordinator James Southard will be the trainer for the NL team.

The Futures Game will be played Saturday, July 16 at Dodger Stadium, a seven-inning game that will televised live (4 p.m. PT) on Peacock. MLB Network will re-air the game on Sunday, July 17 at 6 a.m. PT.