Any Takers?

Wow, White Sox reliever Jordan Leasure gave up a walk-off, two-run homerun to Luis Urias with one out in the bottom of the tenth inning for a 3-2 A’s win. Who’d have thought that was possible, I mean, other than me? Not Sox manager Will Venable, that’s for sure. If I’m Venable (perish the thought), I’d take note of what Leasure said after the game: “At the end of the day, if I could go back in time, I’d probably make the same exact pitch and do it again. He [Urias] just be me that time, and sometimes that happens.” [quote from online story in today’s Tribune] Only with Leasure pitching, that’s going to be the result more often than not. Not to be cruel (but maybe a tad masochistic), look at Leasure’s stats, 0-4 with a 5.88 ERA over two seasons. So far this year, in just over a month, he’s appeared twelve times and given up runs four times. That translates into a 0-2 record with two saves and a 4.50 ERA. Any takers on that ERA going up in the not too distant future? Any takers on Tim Elko putting in an appearance at first base before long? Elko is an unheralded if large—as in 6’3”, 250 pounds—at Triple-A Charlotte. Picked in the tenth round of the 2022 draft, the 26-year old righthanded hitter has amassed 60 homeruns and 215 RBIs to go with a .292 BA in his three-plus seasons in the Sox system. Elko isn’t a top-30 prospect, but— It's getting hard to ignore the numbers he’s putting up and the numbers Andrew Vaughn isn’t. Yesterday, Elko hit two homers, giving him nine on the season, good for four RBIs, and twenty total, along with a .354 BA. Like I said, hard to ignore. And then there’s Vaughn. As we head into May this week, the Sox starting first baseman is hitting an anemic .157 with three homers and eleven RBIs. Yesterday, he went 1-for-5, a single. He also grounded out three times, including the tenth inning when he hit into a double play with runners on the corners and one out. A hit meant a run at least and would’ve extended the Sox lead until maybe it was Leasure-proof. A 26-year old rookie can establish himself; the odds are on the long side, but it happens. And with Vaughn going the way he is, we may soon find out what Tim Elko has to offer.