There’s no doubt the impact that OF Andrew Vaughn had on the White Sox this year. He stepped into an injury-plagued outfield and had solid production, slashing .235/.309/.396 with 22 doubles and 15 home runs. Those numbers aren’t especially awesome, but in the first half Vaughn slashed a much more respectable .253/.320/.453 with 18 doubles and 10 home runs.
I’m not going to say that Vaughn was good in the second half of the season, in fact he was pretty terrible, but he was unlucky. In the first half of the season, Vaughn’s hard hit percentage was 37.1%, however in the second half it was 33.6% which is surprising given the drop off he had. That’s less than a 4 percent drop. His strikeout percentage also went down by around 8 points from the first to second half, another surprising stat.
His defense was a whole different story. While he was a relatively decent hitter, his defense was horrendous. His Outs Above Average was in the fifth percentile, and his Outfielder Jump was in the FIRST percentile, making his defense practically unlivable. Unfortunately for the Sox, he slotted in at LF most of the time. He can play RF, which is where I recommend he starts at next year. For comparison, Jesse Winker, who is a notoriously bad fielder, had the same exact OAA and OF Jump.
Given that Andrew Vaughn was just an average hitter and a terrible fielder, why am I so confident that he’s going to be good in 2022? Well, in 2021, Vaughn was thrust into an injury-filled outfield and he was pretty average, which was exactly what the Sox needed. He’s their number one prospect, so there’s no reason to believe that he doesn’t have potential. In a full season, where he starts from the beginning, he should be a lot better.
In conclusion, Vaughn was solid in 2021. I like him as a player, and think he should be even better in 2022.
