Cal Baseball: Andrew Vaughn Suffers Hip Injury in Spring Training

Andrew Vaughn’s excellent spring training was interrupted Sunday when he injured his right hip and was carted off the field in the fourth inning after making a diving catch for the White Sox in their Cactus League 9-0 win over the Dodgers.

The 23-year-old former Cal star stood up after catching Hanser Alberto’s liner in the right-center field gap, but could not walk off the field. The severity of Vaughn’s injury was not immediately known and he was due to undergo further evaluation.

The team said Vaughn reported experiencing discomfort in his hip.

Vaughn was enjoying a productive spring in the wake of his first major league season. He is batting .467 with a 1.196 OPS.

Vaughn started Sunday’s game in right, where he is the frontrunner to be the White Sox regular this season.

A first baseman at Cal, Vaughn became the Sox regular left fielder last spring when Eloy Jimenez suffered an injury that would keep him on the shelf for months.

Vaughn performed beyond expectations in left, given his inexperience at the position, and batted .235 with 15 home runs and 48 RBI in 127 games.

The MLB regular season begins April 7 and if Vaughn is unable to play the White Sox figure to use some combination of Micker Adolfo, Gavin Sheets, Leury Garcia and former Gold Glove candidate Adam Engel.

Vaughn, who turns 24 on April 3, hit 50 home runs in his three-year career at Cal, winning the Golden Spikes Award as the nation’s top player his sophomore year of 2018.

He was the third pick of the 2019 major league draft by the White Sox and made it to the big leagues after just one season in the minor leagues. The 2020 minor-league season was suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Vaughn attended a special camp the White Sox conducted for their top prospects.

File photo from 2021 of Andrew Vaughn by John E. Solokowski, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo