CHICAGO -- With the White Sox down a run in the bottom of the second inning Friday, Andrew Vaughn launched a fly ball to center field. Marlins center fielder Dane Myers made an effort, but it landed outside his reach for a game-tying solo home run.
Chicago took the lead on Michael A. Taylor’s RBI double later that inning. After Miami tied it in the seventh, Brooks Baldwin drove in a run on a go-ahead sacrifice fly, putting the White Sox ahead in their eventual 6-2 win at Rate Field.
“We had a tough series in Kansas City, so it's always nice to come back home and get the first win,” said Josh Rojas, who scored twice. “Hopefully, it carries over for the rest of the series.”
Vaughn, the struggling Sox first baseman/designated hitter, didn’t factor into the finish. He struck out with the bases loaded in the seventh, an opportunity to pile on more runs. However, his homer had to feel like a good opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief during this rough first quarter of the season.
Vaughn is in a better spot than he was about a month ago. The White Sox 2019 first-round Draft pick (third overall) has raised numbers since April 12, when he sat at a .102 batting average and a .374 OPS. Even 24 games later, those marks still sit at just .188 and .537.
Chicago manager Will Venable doesn’t necessarily think Vaughn’s numbers tell the whole story. Venable felt like he’s been seeing positives from Vaughn “for a while.” In that home run at-bat, specifically, he was happy with how Vaughn waited for the right pitch to take for a ride.
“He has put good swings on [the ball],” Venable said. “I think for him and for all our guys, it's about not chasing. Leading up to that homer, he took three close pitches. One of them was a strike, but that's the result you want in the process where he's able to control the zone, and then not miss good pitches to hit.”
Regardless, results are results, and after Friday, Vaughn had been worth negative-0.9 Wins Above Replacement (FanGraphs) on the season.
That seems to be part of the reason some fans have clamored for right-handed-hitting first-base prospect Tim Elko to get called up to the big leagues for his Major League debut, which Venable confirmed will happen Saturday.
Elko, 26, was Chicago’s 10th-round pick in the 2022 Draft. He isn’t ranked among MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 White Sox prospects, but in 31 games with Triple-A Charlotte this season, Elko has hit .348 with a 1.101 OPS and 10 home runs. Across his four years and 325 games in the Minors, he’s hit .293 with an .843 OPS and 61 homers.
“He's obviously been swinging really well,” Venable said. “We're excited to add him to the lineup and see what he can do. He's a great guy in the clubhouse, he can defend. Obviously, the work that he's done at the plate speaks for itself.”
“You will have your games here and there where you aren’t seeing it well, but I’ve done a pretty good job improving it,” Elko told MLB.com earlier this week. “I’ve been really trying to focus, to make sure I have good pitch selection.
“I want to be aggressive in the zone. But I want to make sure I’m swinging at the right pitches.”
There’s some overlap in the two players’ defensive profiles. Vaughn has been exclusively first or DH since 2023, and Elko has done the same for his whole pro career. Plus, since both are right-handed, there’s no natural platoon for the two bats.
But that doesn’t seem like it will be an issue, currently. The White Sox didn’t announce a corresponding move for Elko following the win Friday, but Venable gave no indication his promotion would change things for Vaughn.
“I think [Elko] deserves some runway,” Venable said. “We'll give him some looks here in different spots. [Saturday], I haven't made the lineup, but he'll be in there as well as Vaughn. So we'll see who's going to play first and who's going to DH, but you're going to see him in the lineup.”