It took Tim Elko just six big-league at-bats to show why the Chicago White Sox should have called him up sooner.
Elko crushed a three-run blast in the sixth inning to break up a 1-1 tie against the Miami Marlins. Talk about a nice way to get your first big-league hit.
Elko's power is a huge reason why fans had been pleading with the organization to call him up. The Sox, sitting near the bottom of baseball in home runs this season, desperately need more power in their lineup. Even if Elko doesn't rake like he did in Triple-A, he can provide some instant offense that few others in Chicago currently can.
When it became clear the front office could no longer ignore what the former 10th-round pick was doing in Charlotte, he only needed six at-bats to show why he's valuable to keep around.
But Elko's impact on the Sox goes beyond just hitting home runs. He is also here to push Andrew Vaughn, who has suddenly taken notice that he could be replaced.
Andrew Vaughn is heating up since Elko joined the Sox
With Vaughn's slow start to the 2025 season and only one year left of club control, I think it's abundantly clear that the organization needs to move on as soon as possible. The worst case scenario would be the White Sox being forced to non-tender Vaughn in the offseason because he becomes such a liability at the plate.
If having Elko up is what it takes to push Vaughn to be the best version of himself, then so be it.
The only other way to send a message to Vaughn is to demote him to Triple-A. GM Chris Getz is not going to do that, but having Vaughn's replacement on the 26-man roster seems to have woken him up a bit.
Since Elko's call-up was announced on May 9th, Vaughn has gone 1-for-4 in each of the five games the White Sox have played. In four of those five games, Vaughn has delivered an RBI. He also has two home runs in that stretch. Vaughn is hitting .250 with two home runs and a .900 OPS since Elko's call up was announced.
He is still following up some of his better moments with terrible at-bats, but if Vaughn can start hitting a bit sooner than his normal June hot streak, maybe it can help the Sox win at a better pace than they are on now.
Right now, the White Sox are close to be being on par with that historically awful 2024 club in terms of wins and losses. While in the long run it would be great for the Sox to finish at the top of the lottery standings, it would be nice to not flirt with breaking a record in futility the organization just set. Let the Colorado Rockies do that.
If Elko can keep crushing home runs like he did in his second career game, then this summer has a chance to be fun. If, at the very least, Elko pushes Vaughn to play better, then his time in Chicago will be worth it.