White Sox surprise by sending first basemen Andrew Vaughn, Tim Elko down to Triple-A

The White Sox surprised Friday by sending first basemen Andrew Vaughn and Tim Elko to the minor leagues.

The moves came as two veteran outfielders, Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman, were brought back from the injured list.

The struggling Vaughn has been a source of fan frustration since the start of the season, and he headed to Triple-A Charlotte with a .189/.218/.314 slash line to go along with five home runs in 48 games, producing far below league average.

This marks Vaughn’s first trip back to the minor leagues since he was promoted to the majors to begin the 2021 campaign with no experience above A-ball.

After being selected with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2019 draft, he was pegged as a cornerstone of the previous rebuilding project on the South Side but has failed to live up to the expectations of his draft position and has struggled to produce even at a league-average level during his five major league seasons.

Vaughn is set to hit free agency after next season, potentially writing him out of the rebuilding Sox’ long-term plans. Enough production from Vaughn might have generated interest at the trade deadline, though that has not happened.

Elko had perhaps the opposite expectations of Vaughn. Drafted in the 10th round in 2022, Elko was noted for his role in winning a national championship at Ole Miss, but with Vaughn seemingly the long-term answer at first base, it was unsure what place, if any, he had in the Sox’ future.

But Elko hit at every level of the minors, including putting up big numbers to start this season at Charlotte. He was promoted a couple weeks ago with a .348/.431/.670 slash line and 10 homers in 31 Triple-A games.

He struggled in his first taste of the major leagues, with just five hits in his first 32 plate appearances. Three of those hits left the ballpark for home runs. He struck out 10 times and walked just once.

Both first basemen left the active roster with the activation of a pair of outfielders, perhaps forecasting playing time at first base for Lenyn Sosa and Miguel Vargas.