The White Sox announced today that outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman have been reinstated from the injured list. In corresponding moves, first basemen Andrew Vaughn and Tim Elko have been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.
Looking at recent developments, Vaughn being optioned to the minors isn’t a shock. His bat has hovered around league average for most of his career but he’s been far worse here in 2025. He’s currently sporting a .189/.218/.314 line on the year. He has five home runs but the batting average is obviously rough. A tiny 3.6% walk rate means his on-base percentage is also quite low. His 44 wRC+ indicates he’s been 56% below league average at the plate this year.
Zooming out for a wider view, it’s been a pretty surprising trajectory. Vaughn was a slugger in college, hitting 50 home runs in 160 games for California, leading to a .374/.495/.688 batting line. The Sox took Vaughn third overall in the 2019 draft and signed him with a $7.2212MM bonus. The hope was that he was a potential middle-of-the-order bat who could be a key staple of the lineup for years to come.
It hasn’t played out as hoped. Vaughn cracked the Opening Day roster in 2021 but, as mentioned, his results have been fairly middling so far. He has shown a bit of pop but nothing special, finishing each previous season of his career between 15 and 21 long balls. The batting averages haven’t been great and he hasn’t drawn many walks. From 2021 to 2024, he took 2,258 plate appearances for the Sox with 72 home runs. His 20.3% strikeout rate was good but his 6.5% walk rate was subpar. His combined .253/.310/.415 batting line led to a 102 wRC+, indicating he was 2% better than league average in that time.
That’s not disastrous production but the Sox were surely hoping for more, especially because he doesn’t provide value in any other way. He’s not a burner on the basepaths, with just three career stolen bases. His defense isn’t great anywhere on the field. Earlier in his career, the Sox got him some outfield time while they had José Abreu at first. The results were disastrous, with Vaughn getting terrible grades from advanced defensive metrics. He has since settled in as the regular at first but both Outs Above Average and Defensive Runs Saved consider him to be subpar there as well.
Coming into 2025, it wasn’t even a guarantee the Sox would tender him a contract. In the end, they did, and avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $5.85MM salary for this year. For a club that lost 121 games last year, the hope was presumably that Vaughn would finally have a big breakout at the plate and turn himself into a viable summer trade candidate, but that has not happened.
For now, Vaughn will head down to Charlotte to see if there’s some way to get himself back on track, but it seems his rope with the White Sox is running out. As mentioned, he was a non-tender candidate at the end of last year. He can be retained for next year via arbitration but it’s hard to see that happening with this year’s swoon. If he’s down in the minors for a few weeks, they would gain an extra year of club control, but that’s not likely to matter if he’s a non-tender candidate anyway. If he shows any promise at all in the coming months, the Sox will surely try to flip him prior to the July 31st deadline.
Elko getting optioned isn’t a shock in a vacuum. He was only promoted two weeks ago and has a .161/.188/.452 line in his first 32 big league plate appearances. But he had been taking some of the first base playing time recently and would have been a candidate to replace Vaughn there. With both Vaughn and Elko getting optioned, the Sox are subtracting their two primary first basemen.
General manager Chris Getz says that Miguel Vargas and Lenyn Sosa will be mixing in at that position, per James Fegan of Sox Machine. Sosa is a utility player with a subpar bat. Vargas is a former top prospect who may be having a breakout at the plate. He struggled in his initial big league call-ups with the Dodgers and this year’s batting line was .139/.236/.203 as of April 21st. Since then, however, he has a .315/.379/.565 line and 166 wRC+. That’s still a small sample of 103 plate appearances but his previous prospect status perhaps gives it some credibility.
He has been the club’s regular third baseman with passable defense there. DRS considers him to be a roughly league average defender at that spot, though OAA has him at -5 in his career and -3 this year. Perhaps the Sox feel it’s better if he moves to the less-demanding first base position. Josh Rojas is playing third base for now but he’s not hitting well this year and will likely be traded if he turns his season around. Perhaps Vargas will move back to third if Vaughn earns his way back to the majors.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images
FINALLY
In hindsight, they probably should have non-tendered Vaughn but why not see if the Red Sox or Mariners would take em if they paid down some salary? The Phillies have a 1B at AAA that leads the International League in HR. RBI, OPS+ and is batting .324, while also playing 3B/2B when needed.
Because Vaughn is terrible and not an upgrade
That will be Otto Kemp. Phillies
If I had a nickel for every MLBTR article where both Otto Kemp and Tim Elko were mentioned, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s strange that it happened twice.
I think Vargas or Sosa will slide at 1B for now.
Vargas to 1B?
Meanwhile Gavin Sheets hit 2 dingers last night
His overall numbers are pretty terrible actually
yeah beacuse .286/.333/.497 is terrible, he would be the best hitter on the Sox
Wow. You’re slow
Somebody calling a guy “slow” for pointing out that a .829 OPS isn’t terrible is next level.
Oh the irony
Nah, Julks can wait. Blake Rutherford and Adam Haseley. Call one of those guys up.
That was the big error, Vaughn might benefit from a change of scenery too, 50 homers in 160 games is still a nice mark, even if it is collegiate.
He can be a serviceable DH if he gets it together.
Sox have to give Corey Julks a look soon.
Vaughn had to be handled somehow- Robert next? Elko deserves more of a chance than they gave him. Slater is a bust.
They should pick up Robert’s option for one year and hope he gets back to All Star level. Then trade him before he gets hurt. Risky at $20 million, but their payroll next year is just Benintendi and a bunch of prearb players plus whatever free agent they can coax, if they non-tendered Vaughn, Rojas, etc.
Red Sox might look at Vaughn as a 1B trade target.
Why would they? He’s not an upgrade
Just tell them his nickname is “Mo.”
I’m surprised Elko got sent down too. I figured they’d keep him up if Vaughn was finally off first. Instead, both are set down? Weird. Not like Elko has anything more to prove in AAA
Thank goodness. I was trying to keep my weight below the lowest batting average of the Sox starters. Vaughn and Robert were making that hard but man Elko was killing me! Now just gotta hope Rojas doesn’t become a regular starter or I will wither away to nothing.
I’d still give Elko a shot. Let him work on some things back down in the minors and hopefully he can make some adjustments and get back up soon. A lot of season left to showcase for the following years.
Elko didn’t have any protection behind him in the batting order. Didn’t get many good pitches to hit, hope new manager learns from it. Good luck in Boston Andrew.
Giving Elko less than 40 at bats on an awful ballclub is ridiculous. It’s even more ridiculous when you clear the path to at bats by demoting Vaughn.
$7.2212MM bonus…
He looked good when he was in college lol
I don’t get why Elko had to go down too, and why we need to give at bats to Austin Slater, Palacios, or Josh Rojas. Call up Brooks and actually let him play 2nd base, move Vargas to first, let Sosa play third, Elko the DH, with Benintendi in left, Robert in center and Tauchman in right, but that would make way too much sense
No, no, a million times no.
Leave Vargas at 3B. His defense has been very good over there this year, and he is starting to figure it out at the plate. He has a chance to be an everyday player for this team
Fortunately the White Sox drafted Vaughn 3rd overall that year and let Riley Greene slide to the Tigers at # 5. Thank you
Knowing how poorly the White Sox have been at developing hitters, Riley probably would have suffered the sane fate as Vaughn. That is the sad reality…
letting Sheets walk is the real loss in the Vaughn scenario, Sheets is a good first baseman.
Just DFA Vaughn already. Maybe he can show signs of life with a change of scenery, but it is painfully obvious that it will never happen for him in a White Sox uniform.
Vaughn is a top 5 bust in the last few years.
Brought up a year early and stuck in the outfield, the Sox didn’t do him any favors.
Going to be really hard to get rid of Robert. He won’t sit the bench. Nobody will take him, unless the Sox absorb a lot of that money. They could get a random player for him. But if they’re smart they just release. Shows no effort. Can’t hit.
I think Robert is going to get signed in ’26 and hit, he and Vaughn both a part of the failed rebuild, both had a taste of winning, makes the losing all the more of a heavy weight.
Sheets got out to San Diego and he is hitting a ton.
That is true. Could be a system thing.
Not a sound business take. They can easily move all his prorated salary (and amount of his first club option buyout)…..but won’t get much back in prospect capital if his bat remains bad next 2 months.
The defense for weak CF market and “potential” bat resurrection elsewhere big boy clubs will buy low w/o blinking.
Thats likely, if they can trade him, he probably plugs into the Mets lineup. If we could get Alex Ramirez back Id be thrilled, get Nick Madrigal too, I know he is injured for the season, on a one year deal, but be nice to get him back, rehabbing with the Sox, extend him for two or three seasons.
Madrigal and Meidroth would be a nice middle infield. Vargas at 3B, if Colson Montgomery can figure out how to hit, he would plug in nicely at first.
I just think it’s still too much for them. That’s usually how the market seems, even when a team is grasping for straws with a guy whose bat is really struggling. It would take a lot for them. He had that explosive power, but now all he does is, ground out. Used to be fly outs, but if a team gets lucky, he could show out. I’m just saying he can’t manage a count to save his life, has the fastest strikeouts of anyone. He’ll take a pitch, and foul one, off speed pitch. All it takes. Teams will wait him out until the Sox release him. He will go unclaimed. They want too much for him. Will wait for that. I’m sure the hype of the deadline might sway a team, but most will ride it out. The Dodgers might not. But there’s too much risk. Why would they do it. The risks far outweigh the positives, when clearly there’s so little chance of there being some. But you want him, have him. Then tell me how it goes. The name was big. Now it’s a shell. Maybe he can turn it around. Happens when players change teams. & maybe that will be all it takes. But I think teams will want to take the chance on not a lot. Unless white sox won’t part with him. Teams might say not worth it. And that will be the Sox loss for wanting too much, when there’s not much to give. Hopefully they lower the asking price. All I’m saying is, this with the trade deadline in mind, he demands to hit every night. So how do they go on that long with no bat, that’s in the lineup. They are bad, but he’s absolutely terrible. He’s that bad. It will definitely be interesting though, to see what they do.
About time on Vaughn. I think they should’ve given Elko a little more time. He has nothing to prove in the minors and, even though he hasn’t hit any better than Vaughn, he can at least field well. That alone makes him an upgrade at 1B.
Vaughn has been an extremely frustrating player to those of us who are sorta semi-Sox fans–they were my first team, in the days of Aparicio and Fox and Minoso and Wynn and Pierce, and though I shifted to the Cubs when I attained the age of reason, you never forget your first–because he is ALMOST good, but just almost. I wonder if he had been hurt by all the off-field stuff that has surrounded the Sox for years now. I suspect that he will be somewhere else next season and will do better there, a la Sheets in San Diego this season.
Just herd Getz explanation of roster moves, maybe it’s time for Getz to be sent downl
Mr. Reinsdorf please sell the team. Terrible brand of baseball from ownership to low minors. Blaming young players is cheap.
Vaughn will never be “the guy”, and I’ve said it in the past, needs a new place to play. It’s tough playing with a squad like the White Sox. He needs a mentor to teach him the ways and he’s never had that. He will never be a glove man or steal 50 bases in a season, but he can be an above average hitter if he’s motivated and happy.
I’m thinking he goes back home to Northern California and is an A or Giant by season’s end.
It would at least motivate him.
Signed,
Trust me on this one