Carlos Vargas' dad said he'd be promoted to majors; he was two days later
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Carlos Vargas' dad tried to tell him. It only took a few days for his prediction to come to fruition.
Vargas, a right-handed pitcher in the system who has thrown just six innings at the Triple-A level, was deciding if he'd remain in the United States for a time or return to the Dominican Republic. He was trying to figure out the next steps in his baseball career, but his dad told him that good news would be soon arriving.
"Two days ago was the draft for new players for the Dominican Winter League and when I got chosen by del Licey, my dad told me, 'You're not going to pitch for them, you're going to pitch in the major leagues,'" Vargas said on Friday through a team translator. "So, I didn't know what he meant. I didn't believe him. "
As it turns out, dad knows best. Vargas was promoted to the majors in place of Hunter Gaddis, who returned to Triple-A after a rough outing Thursday against the Chicago White Sox.
Triple-A pitching coach Rigo Beltran was the one to deliver the good news.
"I needed to talk to Rigo about future plans for me to pitch in winter ball in the Dominican for del Licey," Vargas said. "I went to talk, I reminded him, 'Hey, will you allow me to play there? What's going to happen?' Then Rigo said, 'Do you want to pitch [in the majors] or do you want to pitch in the DR? It was really confusing. I was like, 'Where do you want me to pitch?'"
"To make it clear, he asked, 'Where will you make more money? In the US or in the DR?' I said 'In the US,' and he said 'Well, congratulations, you're going to the big leagues.' I couldn't believe him. I thought he was joking and I was in shock. I asked him to repeat it, and he was like 'Yeah, you're going to the big leagues. Get ready because you're pitching tomorrow.' I just gave him a hug and I couldn't believe it."
Vargas' first call, of course, was to his dad.
"As soon as I called him, that's everything he told me, [he said], 'I told you you're not going to pitch in winter ball, you're going to pitch in the majors. You have nothing to do here in the DR, so stay there and try to pitch your best there,'" Vargas said.
It was the conclusion of a long path to the majors for Vargas, who underwent Tommy John surgery near the beginning of last season and has been rehabbing ever since.
"Once I started the rehab process, I treated it like it was any other year that I was just pitching," Vargas said. "For me, it was not a sense of, 'Oh, poor me, I have an injury.' It was just like I'm conditioning and I'm improving my arm. One of my rehab coordinators in Arizona, he kept reminding me to keep that mindset. For me, that was always the key that I was always focused on, as if I was just pitching in any regular season."
It'd be more than a year before that work, mostly put in at the team's facility in Goodyear, Arizona, would prove his father's words prophetic.
Zach Plesac taking next steps in rehab
The Guardians have some clarity with starting pitcher Aaron Civale (right forearm inflammation), who is expected to come off the injured list and pitch in Chicago on Tuesday. The other starter on the mend, Zach Plesac, is also drawing closer to a possible return.
Plesac (fractured hand), who threw all of his pitches in a side session on Saturday, will throw in some fashion on Tuesday, manager Terry Francona announced after Sunday's game. It's possible Plesac could pitch in a rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus. If not, he'll throw a sim game. Either way, Plesac will then throw next weekend.
With Civale and Plesac out, the Guardians have had to piece together the back end of their rotation. That pushed Cody Morris, finally healthy after a lengthy rehab for a back/shoulder strain, into a larger role.
Morris has taken advantage of it and put together his best start so far in Sunday's 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins, allowing just one run on six hits with six strikeouts in six innings. Simply giving the Guardians six innings had an extra positive on Sunday after the Guardians played 24 innings in Saturday's doubleheader.
"I thought he was terrific. He filled up the strike zone, better each time out, change-up was effective," Francona said of Morris. "As he gets more consistency with that curveball, that's certainly going to help."
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Carlos Vargas promoted to majors, proving dad's words prophetic
