Tim Elko Improbably Emerges As Prospect For White Sox
Tim Elko signed for $35,000 out of the 10th round of the 2022 draft after five years of Ole Miss. White Sox staffers don’t deny that they never expected the 26-year-old first baseman to get this far.
“He’s always been a guy who you just assumed was going to hit a wall,” White Sox farm director Paul Janish said.
“He’s one of these guys who continuously will just have to post everywhere he goes,” Triple-A Charlotte manager Sergio Santos said. “And he’s done that, so hopefully he gets his shot soon.”
A hulking, 6-foot-3 righthanded hitter who has been old for every minor league level, Elko has needed to mash to stay in pro baseball, let alone emerge on the prospect radar.
Elko slashed a ridiculous .366/.448/.707 for Charlotte in April. He reached double-digit home runs by May 2, all while making strides at addressing his contact issues that once seemed disqualifying.
“Making sure I’m getting good pitches to swing at, swing at the right ones and doing damage when I get them in my zone,” Elko said of his improvements.
“Using the (pitching) machine and Trajekt and all those different tools to hone in those skills and make sure my timing is good. Most of the time when somebody is struggling, a lot of it is just timing.”
Elko will never have an average hit tool, but White Sox officials believe the swing-decision work he’s focused on to curb his chase rate has improved his in-zone contact along with it. Still sporting a strikeout rate near 30%, Elko has a razor-thin margin for error and will have to obliterate pitches in the heart of the zone to be a productive big leaguer.
But for a run-starved White Sox team, they won’t be able to resist Elko’s power all summer.
“When he swings at pitches over the heart of the plate and makes contact, his capabilities damage-wise are so high,” White Sox director of hitting Ryan Fuller said. “He came into spring training knowing (he has) to improve the swing decisions (and) make quality contact off of breaking balls.
“He’s doing that.”
