Cal Baseball: White Sox Place Andrew Vaughn on Injured List Due to COVID Protocols

Chicago GM says rookie is currently asymptomatic, but return date is uncertain.

Former Cal star Andrew Vaughn’s rookie season just hit a bump in the road. The White Sox hope that’s all it is.

Vaughn was placed on the injured list Thursday in compliance with MLB’s COVID-19 protocols. He will be out for an undetermined time.

“Andrew is currently asymptomatic, and our hope is that, similar to our other IL placements of this nature, he will return shortly to the active roster,” Sox general manager Rick Hahn said in a statement. Hahn said no other players on the roster are impacted.

Manager Tony La Russa reported that Vaughn, the national collegiate player of the year for Cal in 2018, had COVID during the winter. He also sounded optimistic about a relatively quick return by Vaughn.

“I feel good that Andrew will be back soon, and our club and most of baseball is feeling very good about how baseball has handled this whole thing,” La Russa said.

Vaughn missed Chicago’s Monday doubleheader against Cleveland because of what La Russa said was a bad case of allergies.

“Andrew Vaughn would walk through fire to get in the lineup,” La Russa said of Vaughn’s absence on Monday. “He didn’t take the extra practice with the fly balls, scratched batting practice, you know he was feeling miserable.”

Vaughn was back in the lineup Tuesday, going 0-for-4.

Vaughn, 23, arrived at spring training hoping to earn a spot as a designated hitter on the White Sox big league roster. The No. 3 pick of the 2019 draft after playing his Cal career as a first baseman, he suddenly was given a crash course on playing left field when starter Eloy Jimenez suffered a ruptured left pectoral tendon during a Cactus League game on March 24.

Hahn praised Vaughn’s play in left field earlier this week.

“I don’t think you can say enough about Andrew Vaughn and how seamlessly he’s taken to that role out there. We obviously knew he was an athletic kid,” the Sox GM said Tuesday. “We had him out in the outfield some in (minor league camp at) Schaumburg last year, so it’s not totally new to him, but, boy, I think he’s played a real solid left field and he’s been learning that position on the fly.”

He has handled 51 chances in 40 games in the outfield without an error.

Vaughn has been streaky at the plate. He is slashing .226/.316/.394 with 11 doubles, four home runs, 12 RBIs and 19 runs in 43 games.

He batted just .188 over his first 11 games, then hit .306 including his first two major league home runs, during the next 16 outings. Over the past 16, while hitting two more homers, he is at .179.

But there have been some highlights, as we chronicled in this recent story.

The White Sox enter play Friday with a 34-22 record, putting them atop the American League Central Division.

With Vaughn on the injured list, the Sox recalled infielder/outfielder Gavin Sheets from Triple-A Charlotte.

Cover photo of Andrew Vaughn by Vincent Carchietta, USA Today

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