Elko turning heads with scorching start to campaign

This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- The statistics produced by Tim Elko to begin the season suggest Triple-A Charlotte’s first baseman would be more than a viable candidate for a promotion to the White Sox.

He seems to have earned that honor, at the very least. But Elko, like many other Minor League players, lets his on-field work do most of the talking. He’s not in the prediction business and making no demands.

“Whenever that opportunity arises, I'll be ready,” said Elko, during a Friday evening Zoom after being named White Sox Minor League Player of the Month. “But right now, I'm just trying to focus on where my feet are and not look ahead too much.

“Just try to continue to perfect my craft and be the best player I can be every single day here. When that time comes or that opportunity comes, I'll be ready. But I'm just trying to enjoy where I'm at right now."

Elko, 26, clearly is enjoying what he’s been doing to date, as do his Knights teammates, the Knights fans, manager Sergio Santos and everyone else in the organization. He slashed .367/.448/.711 with four doubles, nine home runs, 20 RBIs, 12 walks, 18 runs scored and a 1.159 OPS over 25 games with Charlotte in March/April. He reached base safely in 23 of his first 25 games, hitting safely in 21 of those contests.

His specific power output was buoyed by eight homers in a span of 10 games from April 16-27.

“It was pretty fun,” said a smiling Elko of the long-ball barrage. “I kind of was joking around at the beginning of the week that they come in pairs. I was able to get a few more out the rest of that week, so it was pretty cool.”

“Tim's done a great job,” said White Sox director of hitting Ryan Fuller. “[He] came into Spring Training knowing, 'I've got to improve the swing decisions, being able to make quality contact off of breaking balls.' He's doing that. That's what you want all these guys to be able to do. We give them a plan. We tell them what they do great and areas they need to improve. To see him go out and execute at a high level so far this year is really encouraging.”

Being able to reduce his swings out of the zone has made Elko even more dangerous on pitches within the zone, per Fuller. Honing on where he’s working and being on time makes it easier for Elko to take the bad pitches.

During March/April, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Elko topped the Minors in slugging percentage, was tied for the lead in home runs and ranked fourth in OPS and total bases with 64. Selected in the 10th round of the 2022 Draft, Elko leads all Minor Leaguers since ’23 with 339 hits, is tied for the lead with 199 RBIs and ranks second with 568 total bases.

While Elko has crushed the ball in the International League, the White Sox rank last in the American League in slugging and OPS and rank fourth from the bottom in runs scored. Andrew Vaughn, the incumbent at first base, featured a .167/.207/.272 slash line to go with three homers and 12 RBIs entering Friday’s series opener against the Astros, but the White Sox are giving him the opportunity to work his way back to form as he has done in previous seasons.

So, Elko waits, and Elko works, not pushing the White Sox to find out future possibilities.

“I don't really dig into that kind of stuff too much,” Elko said. “I'm just trying to focus on what I'm doing here now, just trying to improve every single day and be the best I can for the Charlotte Knights. Whenever the opportunity arises, I'll be ready. I'm just trying to focus on who I am right now.

“I've been able to improve some of my weak areas that I've had the last couple years, and I'm just continuing to try to get better every single day. … I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I'm just focusing on continuing to try to be the best that I can so when I get my opportunity I can perform.”