Finding some solutions to get these 3 Chicago White Sox hitters out of an early-season slump

The Chicago White Sox offense is off to a terrible start.

The Sox's bats rank at the bottom of the league in average, slugging percentage, and OPS. A big reason can be directed toward three hitters the White Sox are counting on to provide some damage in the lineup are off to terrible starts.

Miguel Vargas, Andrew Vaughn, and Luis Robert Jr. are all hitting well south of .200.

Before Chase Meidroth's thumb injury necessitated a lineup change, manager Will Venable tried the old dropping Vargas and Vaughn down in the order trick.

That had to be scraped after Meidroth was unable to hit leadoff due to thumb inflammation. Vaughn was moved up to fifth in the order against Boston on Easter Sunday, with Vargas hitting eighth.

Still, a drop in the order will not likely get these two guys going. At some point, it might just have to be accepted that Vaughn is nothing more than a replacement-level player who will have a few good stretches of hitting that is needed just to get his numbers to replacement level.

Vargas might just be a 4A player--a great hitter at Triple-A, a bad one in the big leagues.

Since this season is lost, it still cannot hurt to come up with solutions to see if two players still in their mid-20s can be productive players.

In the case of Vaughn, much like Robert Jr, getting him hitting productively would help his trade value. In Vargas' case, it would be nice to see if he can be the everyday third baseman for the rest of the decade, much like what was envisioned when he was acquired at last year's trade deadline.

It is good to see Vargas no longer look traumatized to be on the White Sox, much like he appeared last season after coming over from the Los Angeles Dodgers. To be fair, going from the best organization in baseball to the worst would do a number on anyone's psyche.

Vargas is having better at-bats, but is just not getting the results.

Pulling the ball and fighting off fastballs to get a breaking ball, sweeper, or cutter is something Vargas must do.

If you look at his spray chart this early in the season, the bulk of the few hits he has produced have come when he is getting the ball to left field.

He even picked up a hit today by lining it down the left field line. The other problem for Vargas has been catching up to velocity.

His career slash line against fastballs is abysmal. The team asked him to make some adjustments in the offseason, and it still has not worked.

However, he can at least fight them off, and if he embraces just fouling them off to get a cutter or a sweeper, then he has a chance to do some damage. Granted, he has to face a pitcher he can throw those pitches against him, but his expected batting average against a cutter is .344 with an expected slug of .822.

This is easier said than done, but if he is hunting his pitches, he might still have a shot to at least be a productive hitter.

At this point, if the White Sox are not willing to go to extremes, just accept Vaughn is who he is at this point.

If the White Sox are not going to signal that he can be replaced cheaply by calling up the red-hot hitting Tim Elko from Triple-A, then there is not much else that can be done besides waiting until June or July when he normally starts to hit.

The television broadcast that Venable is willing to get creative, but John Schriffen also mentioned in an earlier broadcast that Vaughn is confident he will eventually hit.

Eventually is usually what happens as Vaughn is a notoriously slow starter. The problem is his numbers crater so early that his typical productive June and August do just enough to give the mimpressionthat he can still live up to the lofty expectations that made him the No. 3 overall pick in the 2019 draft.

Since there is no real accountability, the cycle continues. Unless the club is willing to show Vaughn they can easily live without him, there is not much they can do.

Just need the weather to get warmer to get Robert Jr. going.

It was 80 in Boston yesterday. It is no wonder that Robert Jr. crushed a home run over the Green Monster.

He has admitted he is not a fan of playing in the cold. Since April has been especially chilly, and the White Sox are playing all but three games in the Midwest and Boston, it is just a matter of watching the temperature consistently reach a number LRJ likes playing at.