Andrew Vaughn had been a mainstay in the Chicago White Sox lineup since making the club’s roster for the 2021 season.
But the first baseman got off to an extended slow start in 2025 and was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte on Friday.
The Sox sent Vaughn and fellow first baseman Tim Elko to Charlotte as outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman returned from the injured list.
“We had a discussion yesterday and there’s a point in a lot of players’ careers where you are better off going down to Triple-A for a little bit,” general manager Chris Getz said. “Focus on reclaiming who you are, as a player, as a hitter.
“We’ve seen him dangerous before in the box and we want to get him back to that.”
The No. 3 pick in the 2019 draft, Vaughn is hitting .189 with five home runs, eight doubles and 19 RBIs in 48 games this season.
“He mentioned he has been grinding — and he’s got survival skills and he was showing that,” Getz said. “He got two knocks the last game (Wednesday against the Seattle Mariners) and there are many times this season you felt like it was coming, he was going to break out.
“He’s better than just grinding, just getting a couple of hits here and there. He’s a guy that needs to drive the baseball, can drive the baseball. So, I think he’s actually looking forward to taking a step back, slowing things down. It’s a different competition level, different environment. Really get to work.”
Vaughn’s only previous experience with Charlotte came in 2022 as part of a rehab assignment.
“I think it’s a really good time to give him a break, let him reset and get back to who we know he can be,” manager Will Venable said. “You point to guys across the league who have done it. (Former Sox third baseman) Jake Burger is a good friend of his who just did it (with the Texas Rangers), which I think is helpful for (Vaughn) to have somebody that has just had a positive experience with it.”
The Sox are playing Burger and the Rangers this weekend at Rate Field.
“I went through it three weeks ago,” Burger said. “I think it’s always a good thing to have a little reset to see if he can get back to himself. I wish him nothing but the best.”
Vaughn, 27, posted career highs in home runs (21) and RBIs (80) in 2023. He started slowly last year but finished with a .246 average, 19 home runs and 70 RBIs. He hadn’t hit a stride this season.
“If you look at some of the underlying work that he’s done, there’s a little bit of unluckiness in his game,” Getz said. “He would square up the ball from time to time and get hits, get big hits. At this point, though, we can’t just rely on the expected numbers. The level of production that we need to see out of him and that position needs to be better. There’s some physical adjustments that can be made.”
Getz said they will dive into those adjustments in Charlotte.
“Syncing up his lower half and upper half,” Getz said. “He was a guy that early on although he maybe wasn’t getting hits, he was making good decisions at the plate, seeing the ball well, taking his walks. Some of that is putting your body in a position to make quality decisions. This game will speed you up for a lot of different reasons because of the talent of the pitching, the overall talent of the major-league level.
“So to go down and play against this type of competition in a different environment can really allow you to make those adjustments. You put so much pressure on yourself as a hitter to be productive and sometimes the harder you try can be a detriment. At this point, we felt like it was necessary to go down there. We still believe in Andrew Vaughn. He knows he can be a productive major-league player. I imagine he’s going to take advantage of this.”
Getz expressed a similar belief in Elko, 26, who went 5-for-31 (.161) with three home runs and five RBIs in 10 games.
“He showed the power, he hit some big home runs for us,” Getz said. “He made some really nice plays at first base. There are some areas of his game that can improve offensively. Tighten up the strike zone, there was some chase. 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 that he did.
“We played two first-place clubs, with the Cubs and Seattle, and to be able to be able to experience that is going to be very valuable for someone like Tim Elko. He’s a bright kid, hard-worker and has made a lot of adjustments in his career. I do think that Tim Elko has a major league career in front of him.”
Getz said the club opted to “balance out the lineup,” when it came to Elko and the roster construction.
The Sox had two veterans back in the lineup Friday in Tauchman — who played right field — and Benintendi — who served as the DH.
Tauchman had been on the injured list since April 10 with a right hamstring strain. The Sox retroactively placed Benintendi on the IL on May 5 with a left calf strain.
“The left-handed bats are going to be helpful,” Getz said. “It’s probably the healthiest our team has been all year, in addition to the most balanced in terms of lefties and righties.”
