A Rough Season For Andrew Vaughn Gets a Little Worse

The 26-year-old former Cal star, batting just .199, has sat out the White Sox past three games with a sprained finger.

Andrew Vaughn / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol describes Andrew Vaughn’s injured finger as “a little angry.”

No doubt, that’s an emotion that permeates the White Sox clubhouse these days.

A gruesome season got a bit more frustrating over recent days for Vaughn, the former Cal star, who is enduring the worst of his four years in the major leagues.

Vaughn sat out the past three games with a sprained ring finger on his left hand. The White Sox are off today (Monday) and Vaughn could be back in the lineup Tuesday when the Sox visit the crosstown rival Cubs to begin a two-game series.

“His ring finger,” Grifol told reporters over the weekend. “A sprain there, so it’s not feeling too well. It’s a little angry. It’s a pivotal finger on the bottom hand. It’s a little angry right now.”

Vaughn suffered the injury while sliding into third base last Wednesday against Toronto.

For Vaughn and the White Sox, this has been a lousy first two months of the season.

A former No. 3 overall draft pick in 2019, Vaughn is batting .199 with four home runs and 19 RBIs. The 26-year-old first baseman averaged .256 with 18 home runs and 68 RBIs over his first three MLB seasons.

Chicago’s 15-45 record is the worst in the majors. The White Sox have lost 11 in a row and 15 of their past 16 games. They are a dismal 5-24 on the road.

The White Sox are last in MLB in batting average (.214), runs scored (2.87 per game) and home runs (43). They have been shut out 10 times and held to one run or fewer 18 times in their 60 games. Their run differential of minus-138, is easily the worst in the bigs.

The pitching is no better. Chicago’s team earned run average of 4.85 is second-worst in the majors, ahead of only Colorado, whose pitchers must deal with the thin air of being a mile above sea level in Denver.

Chicago’s .250 winning percentage has the club on pace to join some uncomfortable historical company.

The worst record by a team in the 21st century was the 43-119 mark compiled by the 2003 Detroit Tigers. But even that worked out to a .265 winning percentage. 

The White Sox are treading in ’62 Mets territory. The expansion National League team was 40-120-1 (.250) in 1962, creating the modern standard for futility.

A few other notable hapless squads:

— The 1875 Brooklyn Atlantics of the National Association labored through a  2-42 season, giving them an 0.45 success rate.

— The 1899 Cleveland Spiders of the National League went 20-134 for a .130 winning percentage

— The 1916 Philadelphia A’s were 36-117, a .235 percentage 

— The Boston Braves’ 1935 season spawned a record of 38-115 (.248), but is best remembered as Babe Ruth’s farewell. He retired on June 1 with a batting average of .181 and six home runs. But he hit the final three of them in the same game on May 25 against Pittsburgh.