White Sox supporting 1B Andrew Vaughn through tough start to the season

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago White Sox are sticking with Andrew Vaughn — for now.

Vaughn is batting .160 after he went 1 for 4 with a first-inning single and two strikeouts in Tuesday night's 7-2 loss to Milwaukee. The struggling first baseman has just two extra-base hits in his last 12 games.

While Vaughn is looking for a turnaround in the majors, Tim Elko is off to a strong start with Triple-A Charlotte. The 26-year-old first baseman is batting .356 with nine homers and 20 RBIs in 24 games.

“We’re more focused on supporting Andrew right now,” general manager Chris Getz said before the loss to the Brewers. “He’s been one of the more unlucky hitters in baseball. I know he wants greater results for the White Sox and for himself. And we expect more out of him.”

The 27-year-old Vaughn was selected by Chicago with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2019 amateur draft. He hit .246 with 19 homers and 70 RBIs in 149 games last year.

Going into the series opener against the Brewers, Vaughn had a .243 expected batting average and an average exit velocity of 91.6 mph — indicating he had been hurt by some tough luck.

“There’s some areas in which mechanically, that adjustments that need to be made,” Getz said. “But the results that he’s gotten at the surface level, we know that it’s a little deceptive.”

Vaughn's slow start comes with the White Sox dealing with a handful of injuries, especially with their position players.

Josh Rojas went 0 for 3 with a walk in a rehab appearance with Charlotte on Tuesday night, and Chase Meidroth could return to the lineup by the end of Chicago's six-game homestand. Rojas was sidelined by a right toe injury, and Meidroth is coming back from right thumb inflammation.

Catcher Korey Lee (left ankle) and outfielders Mike Tauchman (right hamstring) and Austin Slater (right knee) are another two to three weeks away, according to Getz.

“Korey has stacked up some quality days, feels pretty good,” Getz said. "He’s still in a running progression, but the swelling’s down. He’s getting more confident, which is an important step in recovering from an ankle sprain. He’ll be going on a rehab assignment in the near future as well.”

The White Sox are 7-22 after dropping the opener of a six-game homestand. They were 6-23 after 29 games in 2024, when they went 41-121 to break the post-1900 major league record for losses in a season.

Getz is counting on a rich farm system to help the team emerge from its rebuild, but Colson Montgomery — one of Chicago's top prospects — is off to a troubling start.

The 23-year-old Montgomery, a first-round pick in the 2021 draft, is batting .149 (14 for 94) with Charlotte. Getz said Montgomery is going to go to Arizona to work with Ryan Fuller, who was hired in November as the organization's director of hitting.

“We are going to get some one-on-one work with him outside of kind of the Charlotte day to day and work on his swing,” Getz said. “We anticipate that to be a fairly short period of time but felt like it was appropriate. He’s on board.”

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Chicago White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn looks to fans before a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Chicago, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn stretches as he looks to fans before a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Chicago, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago White Sox's Andrew Vaughn, left, celebrates with first base coach Jason Bourgeois after hitting a single during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Chicago, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago White Sox's Andrew Vaughn hits a single during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Chicago, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn looks to fans before a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Chicago, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn stretches as he looks to fans before a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Chicago, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago White Sox's Andrew Vaughn, left, celebrates with first base coach Jason Bourgeois after hitting a single during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Chicago, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago White Sox's Andrew Vaughn hits a single during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Chicago, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago White Sox's Andrew Vaughn watches the outfield from the dugout during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Saturday, April 26, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sara Nevis)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)