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Tim Elko’s arrival no sweat for White Sox’ Andrew Vaughn

CINCINNATI — A late-spring rebound?

An early adjustment? A change in fortune?

Call Andrew Vaughn’s improved offensive performance over the last week whatever you want, but don’t call it a competition with rookie first baseman Tim Elko.

“I’m just sticking to my approach,” Vaughn said Thursday after an 0-for-4 afternoon in the White Sox’ 7-1 loss to the Reds ended his six-game hitting streak. “I just take the positive from the negative and just keep going.”

Vaughn had gone 6-for-23 with two home runs, three doubles and four RBI since May  8, when Elko-mania hit a fever pitch among fans clamoring for the Sox to call up the minor-league slugger and 2022 College World Series champ, who had 10 homers and a .348 batting average at Triple-A Charlotte.

Vaughn, the Sox’ 2019 first-round draft pick who has fallen far short of sky-high expectations, said Elko’s arrival hasn’t put any more pressure on his shoulders or lit any fire under him to fuel his recent uptick in production. He has welcomed his new teammate, with whom he’s expected to alternate at first base and designated hitter in the depths of the Sox’ rebuild.

“I think it’s just helping the offense,” Vaughn said. “He was raking down in Triple-A, and we’re glad to have him here.”

Besides smashing a game-winning three-run homer in his second game on Mother’s Day, Elko has only one other big-league hit so far — a single in Wednesday’s 4-2 win over the Reds. He’s 2-for-15 overall with five strikeouts, and he’s not after anyone’s job, he says.

“We’re just trying to play together as a team and put runs on the board and win some games,” Elko said.

Tim Elko, front right, is doused by teammates after a win on May 11.

Kamil Krzaczynski/AP

Despite Sox fans’ frustrations, Vaughn remains a de facto top producer on a team woefully lacking offense. He’s tied for the team lead in home runs (five) and leads the way in RBI (18) while also having added eight doubles and seven walks.

But after a decent week at the plate, his numbers a quarter of the way through the season still aren’t pretty. He’s slashing .189/.221/.550, while FanGraphs rates him at minus-0.9 wins above replacement, putting him among the worst regulars in the majors.

Sox executives chalk it up to bad luck. Based on his hard-hit rates, Vaughn’s expected batting average is .249 with an extra home run, according to Baseball Savant.

“He’s been one of the more unlucky hitters in baseball,” general manager Chris Getz said last month. “We expect more out of him. I know he’s working very hard, and our job is to get the most out of each player, and we know there’s more in the tank for Andrew.”

Vaughn said that in March and April, “it felt like almost every time I was hitting a rocket, it was getting caught in the gap.”

Luck or not, there’s still plenty of room for him on a roster desperate for power. Manager Will Venable rejects the narrative that Elko is elbowing in on Vaughn’s playing time or putting question marks on Vaughn’s future with the team.

“That’s just not the case,” Venable said Thursday. “I was transparent with [Vaughn] when we were bringing Elko up, to give him a heads-up that it was happening, and that it was not an Elko versus Vaughn thing. That’s not how we look at it.”

Assistant GM Josh Barfield said the Sox will continue mapping out opportunities.

“We’re going to find a way to get both their bats in the lineup,” he said.

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