White Sox’ Andrew Vaughn is happily ‘back in the dirt’ despite huge shoes to fill at first base

HOUSTON — Frank Thomas had it throughout the 1990s. Paul Konerko held it down from 2001 to 2013. It belonged to Jose Abreu ever since, until this year.

First base for the White Sox.

Nothing but franchise icons for over three decades.

How the heck is Andrew Vaughn supposed to be able to live up to all that?

“Come on,” he said a few hours before Game 1 of the season. “Those guys, their talent is off the charts. I mean, they’re Hall of Fame-caliber players.”

Yep. That’s the whole point.

And it’s what makes this a make-or-shake year for Vaughn, who will turn 25 on Monday, the day of the Sox’ home opener. Unless Vaughn has the type of season that leaves no room for complaints about Abreu now playing for the Astros, Sox fans will be shaking their heads at the front office’s willingness to cut ties with a recent MVP during a supposed window of championship contention.

And if Abreu makes another All-Star team or piles up another 100 RBI for the defending World Series champions, it’ll call the Sox’ thinking into question no matter what Vaughn does.

So, you know, no pressure, right?

“For me, I think, I just have to go out there and be myself,” Vaughn said. “I can’t be those guys. We’re different baseball players, do different things well, do different things in different ways. I just have to be me and not think of that [comparison] stuff.

“I want to prove to the fans that I can be myself and do the best I can without having those guys’ names on my shoulders.”

But living up to the Big 3 has been at the top of Vaughn’s to-do list — whether he puts it there or not — since the Sox drafted him third overall in 2019. Vaughn didn’t gobble up all those national awards as a first baseman at Cal to play any other position in the big leagues, and the Sox didn’t bring him into the fold to do anything short of grabbing the torch from Abreu and heading full bore into the future.

Still, before opening night at Minute Maid Park, Vaughn had played only 35 major-league games as a first baseman, 35 more as a designated hitter and 194 as an outfielder, with a scattered few elsewhere. Vaughn isn’t the type to wear stress on his sleeves, but his outfield experience hardly was comfortable. He worked hard at it, yes. But every once in a while, he’d watch an elite outfielder like Byron Buxton or Cedric Mullins go get a baseball that wasn’t meant to be caught and think: Yikes.

“I was doing my best to try to get to them,” he said, “but I’m just not gifted with the most speed.”

It’s great to be home, so to speak.

“I played infield my whole life, you know?” he said. “The last couple years playing the outfield, it was different. I was learning on the fly, doing my best. Now I get to be back on the dirt. I do feel comfortable there around the bag, fielding ground balls. I’m just excited. It’s Opening Day. I’m ready to rock and roll.”

Vaughn turned around a disappointing night at the plate Thursday by lacing a two-run double to left-center in the ninth inning for a 3-1 Sox lead. Batting third for only the dozenth time in his career, he was in position to make a splash and did just that.

One at-bat earlier, though, he struck out with the bases loaded and one out in a scoreless game. Then Abreu stepped up a few minutes later and lined his first hit with the Astros into left. At least the two of them were able to say a quick hello at first base.

But everyone knows Vaughn can hit. On a Sox team that barely hit in 2022, Vaughn slashed .271/.321/.429 and led the way with 17 home runs and 76 RBI. OK, so they weren’t close to vintage Thomas, Konerko or Abreu numbers, but they were plenty encouraging.

“He’s a complete hitter,” second baseman Elvis Andrus said. “I don’t think he has a hole in his swing — [against] righties or lefties — and that’s really rare to find right now. He’s a true pure hitter. And defensively, playing first, I think he’s doing a great job.”

Shortstop Tim Anderson predicts Vaughn’s production will take off in part because moving in from the outfield gives him less to think about and allows him to focus on hitting.

“We all know what that bat can do,” Anderson said. “Man, we know what it can do.”

How about for a block of seasons that turns the Big 3 into a Big 4? Wouldn’t that be something?

“I’d rather just take it one game at a time, one at-bat at a time,” Vaughn said. “You never know what’s guaranteed.”

Fair enough, then. First things first.