Two weeks ago, the White Sox felt they had strong competition at first base with Andrew Vaughn and newly promoted Tim Elko.
Now manager Will Venable finds himself platooning guys to fill the position after the Sox surprisingly sent Vaughn and Elko to the minors Friday.
Both have scuffled with batting averages below .200.
The moves came as outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman were brought back from the injured list.
“This is not necessarily an indictment on them,” Sox general manager Chris Getz said of Vaughn and Elko before the Sox’ 4-1 victory against the Rangers at Rate Field.
“There are always things that need to be worked on, but [it’s] an opportunity to maintain depth, balance our lineup and perhaps get a tick more versatile defensively.’’
Miguel Vargas started and played a clean first base against Texas. Venable said he expects Vargas to start at first when facing right-handed pitchers and move back to third base against lefties. Lenyn Sosa would likely start at first base against lefties.
Benintendi walked and went 0-for-2 in his return but hit a sacrifice fly that put the Sox ahead 2-0 in the third inning. Tauchman went 1-for-3 with a run and a walk and caught a fly while slamming into the right-field wall.
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 and five home runs in 48 games.
This is Vaughn’s first trip back to the minors since he was promoted to the majors to begin the 2021 season 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. Enough production from him might have generated interest at the trade deadline, but that hasn’t happened.
Getz said Vaughn needs to make some mechanical adjustments at the plate, primarily syncing his upper and lower body on his swing. A “step back” to face a lower level of competition should provide Vaughn an opportunity to make those changes, Getz said.
“At this point, we felt like it was necessary to go down there, but we still believe in Andrew Vaughn, and he knows he can be a productive major-league player,” Getz said.
Venable said the Sox haven’t put a timeline together for Vaughn’s return to the majors.
Elko had perhaps the opposite expectations of Vaughn. Drafted in the 10th round in 2022, he was noted for his role in winning a national championship at Ole Miss, but with Vaughn seemingly the long-term answer at first, it was unsure what place 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 of 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 majors with only five hits in his first 32 plate appearances. Three of those hits were homers. He struck out 10 times and walked only once.
Getz said that despite some “big home runs” and a solid glove at first, Elko needed to tighten his strike zone and cut down on chasing pitches.
“But this opportunity for him to get up here, he can get a taste for what the big leagues is about, see some of the arms,” Getz said. “We played two first-place clubs, with the Cubs and Seattle, and to be able to experience that is going to be very valuable for . . . Elko.”