In less than two weeks, pitchers and catchers will report to Spring Training for the White Sox, officially transitioning to the 2025 season. It will signal the end of the dreadful 2024 season, allowing the players who still remain on the roster to purge the historically bad season from their minds.
The Opening Day roster will look very different than it did last year, and as the year progresses, some of the White Sox top prospects will join the roster as they earn promotions to Chicago. There are many variables to how a player will perform in a given season, but certain baseball reference websites try to give their best evaluation on how a player will perform for the upcoming season.
Each year, FanGraphs releases their Steamer projections on how they believe each player will perform in the upcoming year. We will be taking a look at each player’s 2025 projections as we approach Spring Training.
In our last article, we covered Luis Robert Jr., but now we look to see what the projections have in store for Andrew Vaughn.
FanGraphs believes that Andrew Vaughn will have a career best season, as they project him to slash .254/.313/.433. On top of that, they project him to hit 23 home runs and drive in 81 runs. This season would equate to a projected 1.2 WAR.
Their projections are clearly high on Vaughn, as the 23 home runs, 81 RBIs, and 1.2 WAR would all be career bests for Vaughn. If he is on pace for these numbers around the all-star break, a team that is pushing for a playoff spot could pick him up if they are looking for a bat.
Vaughn is a very interesting player, as he was the third pick in the 2019 MLB draft and only played in 53 career minor league games before making it to Chicago in 2021 after the 2020 minor league season was cancelled.
However, Vaughn hasn’t broke out and only holds a cumulative career 1.1 WAR over four seasons, prompting questions if he should have been tendered a contract this offseason. Due to the lack of hitters on the team, tendering him a contract was the smart move, but this may be Vaughn’s last chance to prove he belongs with Chicago.
Unless Vaughn puts up an MVP type season, or if he is not traded, it is likely that next offseason the White Sox will non-tender Vaughn to avoid having to pay him close to 10 million. Vaughn is a free agent in 2027, so the best case for the White Sox is that he gets off to a hot start and they find a suitor for him on the trade market.
With these projections, it wouldn’t be hard to find a trade partner, or it could prompt the White Sox to keep him. These projections aren’t out of the question, as Vaughn could have been close to those numbers last season if he didn’t get off to such an abysmal start.
Andrew Vaughn! 💥 pic.twitter.com/i3F5Qa3Vzc
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 2, 2024
If Vaughn gets off to a strong start, his numbers may look how FanGraphs projects them to be, which would be a very nice season for Vaughn. However, 2025 may be his last chance to stick around with the White Sox if that isn’t the case.
