Tim Elko Rejoins Chicago White Sox For Third Major League Stint

CHICAGO –– Will the third time be the charm for Tim Elko?

The White Sox recalled the first baseman from Triple-A prior to Wednesday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays at 1:20 p.m. CT at Rate Field. The move came as a result of utility man Brooks Baldwin being place on the 10-day injured list with a lower back strain.

White Sox manager Will Venable said pregame he's excited to have Elko back in the lineup. He'll start at first base and bat seventh, one spot ahead of recently promoted shortstop Colson Montgomery.

Elko had a few bright spots in the first 18 games of his major league career. On Mother's Day, he hit a three-run home run off former NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara to lift the White Sox to a 4-2 win over the Marlins.

A week later against the Cubs, he slugged a 425-foot home run off All-Star Matthew Boyd, his second long ball in his first 17 at-bats. That home run left Elko's bat with a 111.1 mph exit velocity, good for the third-hardest hit ball of the 2025 White Sox season. On June 5, Elko drove the ball up the middle for a walk-off single against the MLB-leading Detroit Tigers.

But overall, Elko's performance wasn't enough to keep him in the major leagues for long. Across 63 plate appearances with the White Sox, Elko slashed .155/.222/.379 with four home runs, one double, eight RBIs, one stolen base, five walks and 24 strikeouts.

That's a far cry from his huge numbers in Triple-A Charlotte, where he's totaled 16 home runs, 13 doubles, 42 RBIs, 23 walks and 75 strikeouts while slashing .315/.387/.597. So he was optioned back down to Triple-A twice, most recently being swapped for first baseman Ryan Noda on June 14.

"I think for everybody, as you get up to speed in the big leagues and kind of find your way, it can look differently," Venable said. "Certainly he's performed very well in Triple-A. Some of the underlying things that he's doing well there, we think he can do well here. It's just about going out here and being ready to go at the plate, getting on the heater, on the fastball. And they're gonna challenge him in the zone with the heater, trying to get him to expand below with the off-speed stuff. So he's just gotta be ready to go and not miss some fastballs in the zone."

Miguel Vargas leads the White Sox with 33 appearances at first base, followed by Andrew Vaughn (31), Elko (16), Noda (11) and Lenyn Sosa (11), along with a few others with limited experience. But Vargas can also play third base, Vaughn has been traded to the Brewers, and Noda is on the injured list.

Could that mean a longer run way for Elko with the White Sox this time around?

"I think we'll take it day by day here," Venable said Wednesday. "And we're gonna put whatever guys, as we evaluate where guys are at physically and we evaluate matchups, we'll put our best foot forward every day. I think that'll include Tim on some days for sure."

"As we go through this whole thing, you know, the roster, shape changes daily. And we're going to do everything we can to put a roster together to help us win games and that's going to include different guys at different times in the summer."

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