Will Venable Comments On Dropped Third Strike Play With Andrew Vaughn

CHICAGO – Andrew Vaughn is not in the White Sox lineup for Sunday's 1:20 p.m. CT start against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

He had played in each of the last 24 games over a 26-day stretch. The last time Vaughn was not in the lineup was April 21 against the Red Sox, and he's played in 44 of 46 games this season.

"Trying to be mindful of the workload," manager Will Venable said. "He’ll be back in there on Monday."

In the seventh inning of Saturday's 7-3 loss to the Cubs, Vaughn struck out swinging on a two-seam fastball from right-hander Brad Keller that broke inside. Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya couldn't catch it, but Vaughn didn't immediately notice the ball rolling toward the backstop, giving Amaya enough time to collect the dropped third strike and throw out Vaughn at first base.

"That's one of those where as a hitter if the ball is not in the dirt, you're not thinking run to first base," Venable said. "So I think he was a little slow to realize what was going on. Just one of those things where you're not expecting the ball to get by the catcher there."

Brad Keller, Unfair 96mph Two Seamer. 😲 pic.twitter.com/A5nsDSX8MY
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 17, 2025

Many White Sox fans on social media criticized Vaughn for a lack of effort on the play, but Venable dismissed that notion.

"I didn't see it as a lack of effort or anything like that," Venable said. "If I had, I would have talked to him about it. But to me, it was pretty self-explanatory, where just kind of a unique play. Took him a while to get going, because it was not where you normally would know right away to run."

Through 44 games this season, Vaughn has five home runs, 18 RBI, nine runs, seven walks, 43 strikeouts and a slash line of .186/.217/.320/.536.

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