White Sox First Baseman Tim Elko Suffers Long-Term Injury
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White Sox first baseman Tim Elko on Tuesday underwent successful surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee, the team announced Wednesday.
The surgery was performed by Dr. Lyle Cain at the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center in Birmingham, Ala.
Elko's estimated recovery time is eight months, per the team, which puts a potential return to game action in June or July of the 2026 baseball season.
Elko's season in review
An early theme of the 2025 White Sox season was wondering when Elko would get an opportunity with the major-league club after a scorching hot start with the Charlotte Knights.
When he was first promoted to MLB in May, Elko was one of the most productive hitters in Triple-A. Through 130 plate appearances, he was tied for first in home runs (10) while ranking sixth in hits (39), tied for 10th in RBI (23), fifth in batting average (.348), seventh in on-base percentage (.431), second in slugging percentage (.670) and second in OPS (1.100) among qualified hitters.
Translating that level of performance against big-league arms proved difficult for Elko, though. He produced a few memorable moments, such as a three-run home run against the Marlins that marked his first major-league hit and powered the White Sox to victory.
First career hit ✅
— MLB (@MLB) May 11, 2025
First career home run ✅
Welcome to The Show, Tim Elko! pic.twitter.com/I9w0M7bRPv
He also homered at Wrigley Field and hit a walk-off single against the Detroit Tigers. But across four separate stints with the White Sox over the course of the season, he wasn't effective enough to earn consistent at-bats. He also missed nearly a month of action in July and August due to a right knee sprain.
Elko's 2025 White Sox stats | Elko's 2025 Triple-A stats |
|---|---|
23 games, 75 plate appearances, 6 R, 9 H, 1 2B, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 1 SB, 5 BB, 30 K, .134/.194/.328/.523 | 96 games, 414 plate appearances, 64 R, 109 H, 19 2B, 26 HR, 70 RBI, 2 SB, 34 BB, 123 K, .292/.357/.552/.910 |
Elko, 26, was a 10th round draft pick by the White Sox in 2022 out of Ole Miss, where he helped the Rebels win the 2022 College World Series. He has put up big numbers and displayed impressive power in the minor leagues, but there are a few adjustments he'll need to make to be an everyday major-league player.
White Sox director of player development Paul Janish spoke at length on Sept. 15 about Elko's character, performance in 2025 and future with the organization.
"It could take different amounts of time for different players. Tim’s proven he can play at the minor-league level and do it really well," Janish said. "We all know the well documented history of the makeup of the player, the winner, all that kind of stuff. I won’t get too into that other than say we love Timmy."
"But I do think there is an adjustment to be made. He’s got to do a better job of, No. 1, getting comfortable at the major leagues. Regardless of what we think of these guys, they spend their entire lives working and aspiring to get to the big leagues. What that means is different for different guys, but we have to acknowledge you get there and it’s like, 'Oh my gosh.' Some guys plug right in, some guys it takes a second for them to adjust."
"That being said, at the end of the day Tim needs to do a better job at the major-league level understanding what teams are trying to do to him and executing his game plan. What does that mean? Swinging at more pitches he can handle and taking the ones he can’t, right. I’m saying that light-heartedly like that’s easy to do, but it’s not. It’s hard to do, especially for a right-handed hitter at the major-league level."
"What I will say about Tim, as an endorsement of him, you’re not going to get me to bet against him. He’s going to put in what he can and his opportunity will be dictated by himself, in most cases. Like he’s played really well, he got himself on the roster, he got to the big leagues this year. That was a success. The next step is figure out how to get his feet on the ground at the major-league level and earn the opportunity to continue to get at-bats there."
"He makes our organization better in a bunch of different ways. I feel very comfortable saying that. But in terms of opportunity, we’ll see what the future holds. He’s done everything he can at the minor-league level. Now he’s going to have to wait his turn when it’s given to him at the major-league level, and when he gets it, produce."
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Jack Ankony is the beat writer for “Chicago White Sox on SI.” He has been with the Sports Illustrated network since 2022. He graduated from Indiana University's Media School with a degree in journalism in 2022. Follow Jack on Twitter @ankony_jack
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