Jason Vargas

Vargas was the 68th player taken overall in the draft.

Jason Matthew Vargas (born February 2, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher.

He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida Marlins, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City Royals, New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.

His father retired in 1998, and Vargas transferred to Apple Valley High School in Apple Valley.

Vargas graduated in 2001.

The Minnesota Twins drafted him with the 1,273rd pick in the 2001 Major League Baseball draft.

He declined to sign with Minnesota, and instead enrolled at Louisiana State University (LSU) to play college baseball for the LSU Tigers.

As a freshman at LSU, Vargas had a 1–1 win–loss record with a 3.43 earned run average in 13 games.

He also saw occasional playing time as a first baseman and designated hitter.

In his first college at bat, he launched a pinch hit grand slam to lift the Tigers to a victory over Mercer.

Vargas decided to transfer out of LSU after the 2002 season to Cypress College for the 2003 season, picking a junior college so he would still be eligible for the draft.

He was 11–3 with a 3.10 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 107.1 innings as he batted .374.

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 transferred to California State University, Long Beach to play for the Long Beach State 49ers for his junior year.

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 Marlins drafted Vargas in the second round of the 2004 MLB draft.

The new work ethic paid off, and in 2004 Vargas went 7–4 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.

The Florida Marlins drafted Vargas out of Long Beach State with their second-round pick in the 2004 MLB draft, and he was signed by scout Robby Cosaro; he was a collegiate teammate of Jered Weaver, who was the Anaheim Angels' first-round pick in 2004.

He signed with the Marlins in time to make eight starts in 2004 with their Low A affiliate, the Jamestown Jammers, with whom he went 3–1 with an ERA of 1.96 in eight starts, and was named the #3 prospect in the New York=Penn League by Baseball America.

He was the Marlins Organizational Pitcher of the Month for August.

He finished 2004 with three starts at the end of the 2004 campaign with one of the Marlins' Single-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.

He made his major league debut in 2005.

Vargas was then promising enough that Baseball America listed him 8th among the Marlins' top 10 prospects for 2005; those above him were Jeremy Hermida, Scott Olsen, Yorman Bazardo, Jason Stokes, Josh Willingham, Eric Reed, and Taylor Tankersley.

Baseball America predicted that Vargas would start the season in Greensboro and finish it in High 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 in five starts and was named South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week on April 24, and the Marlins Organizational Pitcher of the Month for April, and Minor League Player of the Week honors for the week of April 18–24.

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 innings.

With his third club of the year, the Double-A Carolina Mudcats, he made three starts, going 1–0 with a 2.84 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 19 innings pitched.

He led all Florida minor league pitchers in 2005 with a 2.50 ERA.

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.

In 2017, he was an All Star and tied for the American League lead in wins.

Vargas was born in Apple Valley, California.

He attended Victor Valley High School in Victorville, California, where he played for the school's baseball team under his father, who was head coach.