Elko establishing himself as a White Sox Minor Leaguer to watch

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BOSTON -- If the name Tim Elko is not familiar to White Sox supporters, then they might want to pay closer attention to what he’s doing currently at Triple-A Charlotte.

In fact, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound first baseman has been hitting since joining the White Sox as a 10th-round pick in the 2022 Draft.

“You gotta give credit, and it’s not just offensively,” White Sox director of player development Paul Janish told me this weekend during an interview at Fenway Park. “Tim does a really good job defensively at what can be an overlooked position.

“First base is a pretty important deal, especially when you have young infielders. Honestly, he’s doing exactly what he needs to do right now to keep his name on the front of everybody’s mind.”

Elko is slashing .361/.443/.607 over 17 games in his second season with the Knights. He has knocked out four home runs and three doubles, with 12 RBIs and 11 runs scored.

At 26, Elko is above the unofficial pure prospect age, and you won’t find his name on MLB Pipeline’s White Sox Top 30 Prospects list. But he has value across the field and off the field, according to those who know him.

“Any time you talk about Tim, you have to talk about the makeup and how good of a human he is,” Janish said. “How much he impacts the people around him, players and staff.”

“Timmy’s a great player, fun to watch. Big-time power. Opposite-field power. Good hitter, and it’s not just juice with him,” said Bobby Dalbec, Elko’s teammate at Charlotte before joining the White Sox on Monday. “He has quality at-bats, plays good defense at first, moves a lot better than you think. Gets down the line pretty quick and can run.”

So where do these plaudits leave Elko? It appears in Charlotte for the immediate future.

Andrew Vaughn is ahead of him at first base at the Major League level. Manager Will Venable has not gone with a set designated hitter, which would be another spot possibly fulfilled by Elko, who is not currently on the 40-man roster.

“This game is a little bit of you are a victim of circumstances with regards to opportunities,” Janish said. “He’s waiting for his opportunity. Tim understands that as well as anybody. If and when that opportunity comes, which hopefully it will, we dang sure know he’s going to show up and give us what he’s got. Hopefully, he plays well when he gets that opportunity.”

“He’s got a good head on him,” Dalbec said. “Excited to see what he’s going to do in his career.”

There were no home runs for Elko during Charlotte’s 14-11 loss to Nashville on Sunday, leaving him as one of the few who didn’t go deep, with 13 long balls in total. Colson Montgomery, the No. 4 White Sox prospect, and No. 36 overall, per Pipeline, had one of those home run swings and extended his hitting streak to six games during which he is 9-for-28 with two homers and three RBIs. It’s a major step forward for the shortstop after a rough 4-for-45 open.

“No question, he’s off to a slow start, but this past week, he’s had better swings,” Janish said. “He’s hitting the ball harder on a line. It’s not the start he wanted. He would be very honest with you and tell you the same thing. But it’s a hard game.

“We are going to ask him to have success at the Major League level at some point. These are the kind of things he has to work through. He’s trending in the right direction and hopefully the next month we will see him get hot.”