Andrew Vaughn looking to spruce up White Sox’ list of top picks

Andrew Vaughn batted .278/.384/.449 with six homers and 36 RBI in 55 games between the Arizona Rookie League and both levels of Class A.

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Andrew Vaughn throws out the first pitch Tuesday. (Darren Georgia/White Sox)

Andrew Vaughn is here to show us the White Sox can click on first-round picks.

Just like shortstop Tim Anderson, left-hander Carlos Rodon, righty Carson Fulmer, third baseman Jake Burger, right-hander Zack Burdi, catcher Zack Collins and second baseman Nick Madrigal before him, Vaughn, a first baseman, made the first-rounder rounds around Guaranteed Rate Field and White Sox clubhouse Tuesday before taking a seat in the White Sox dugout for a media appearance. Drafted higher than any of them with the exception of Rodon (also third overall) in 2014, Vaughn comes with the same lofty expectations, which he said he is comfortable with.

“It’s a great honor, but I’m still me when I play every day,’’ Vaughn said before the Sox’ 7-3 win over the Royals. “I don’t want to be anybody different. I go out and have fun and do my job.”

Vaughn, picked third overall, and Madrigal, fourth last year, are the Sox benefits gained for 95- and 100-loss seasons in the first two years of a teardown and rebuild. These are picks the Sox can’t miss on, as they’ve missed on previously.

The aforementioned group has been a mixed bag of bad, good, injured and to be determined picks. Anderson might win a batting title and lead the majors in errors in the same season. Rodon, Burger and Burdi are healing from a ruptured Achilles and Tommy John surgeries, the latter two still a ways from seeing major league service time -- especially Burger. Collins, in the lineup as the designated hitter Tuesday, is trying to prove he belongs, even if it’s somewhere other than behind the plate where he had a rough Saturday handling pitchers including a struggling Fulmer (career 6.34 ERA).

Vaughn batted .278/.384/.449 with six homers and 36 RBI in 55 games between the Arizona Rookie League and both levels of Class A. Player development director Chris Getz said Vaughn was an “excellent teammate” with a good attitude who acclimated himself to the rigors of pro baseball. One scout who watched Vaughn for an extended stretch at advanced Class A Winston-Salem viewed him as a 25-30 home run hitter and 90-100 RBI run producer.

“A safe pick,” he said.

Vaughn hasn’t blown anyone away with Luis Robert like numbers but he looks like a polished, confident hitter who will produce. The Sox envision a nice addition to a lineup that will include Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada and Robert.

Jimenez, Moncada and right-hander Lucas Giolito were acquired in the Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and Adam Eaton trades, Robert was a $26 million international prospect. In a perfect rebuilding world, the Sox will click on the top draft pick aspect of the talent-acquisition phase, too.

Jimenez belted his first grand slam Tuesday and Moncada hit a 452-foot homer to center, their 25th and 23rd homers, respectively.

Vaughn is going through the same development steps Jimenez and Moncada patiently went through.

“Once he got to Winston, he continued to blend in with older players and had solid at-bats, which we would expect,” Getz said. “We challenged him, and he fit in very well.”

Getz wouldn’t say where Vaughn will start the 2020 season. He shapes up as the heir apparent to first baseman Jose Abreu, the latest in a long line of offensively excellent Sox first sackers including Paul Konerko and Frank Thomas. Those are big spikes to fill.

“I didn’t know a whole lot [about the Sox],” Vaughn said. “Guys like Paul Konerko, Harold Baines, Jim Thome came through here. The Big Hurt, I wish I was as big as him. I got to see his statue in left field and I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t compare.’ ”

With 18 games left, the Sox (64-80) won for the fourth time in their last 13 games. In year three of the rebuild, it isn’t where manager Rick Renteria wanted to be.

“We were shooting, truthfully, to be .500 and-or better,” he said. “I’d be lying if I said to you that I came in here thinking I want to have a losing season. That was not in the equation, but a lot of things happened along the way and you have to make adjustments.”

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