Notes: Vaughn hopes luck turns; bullpen sorting out roles

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Someone told White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn that he was the “king of hard-luck hitters" in 2022. He could not help but chuckle.

“You definitely know when you hit one on the screws and it gets caught,” Vaughn said Friday. “It kind of takes a little wind out of your sail, but that’s the goal. We want to hit the ball hard.”

Vaughn hit the ball harder than most in 2022, his first full season in the Majors. According to MLB research, Vaughn ranked in the 82nd percentile of Major Leaguers with a 90.8 mph exit velocity and in the the 90th percentile in hard-hit rate at 48.6 percent.

In 17.3 percent of his plate appearances, Vaughn made hard-hit contact (95-plus mph) and in the launch-angle sweet spot (8-32 degrees), which was fifth among qualifiers, behind only Yordan Alvarez, Freddie Freeman, Corey Seager and Mookie Betts.

That translated into a 17-homer, 76-RBI season with a .271/.321/.429 slash line in 2022. Analytical models this spring predict Vaughn will reach a homer total in the mid- to high-20 range this season, based on his rates of solid contact.

Does he pay attention to that?

“Not a lick,” Vaughn said.

“You just have to keep hitting the ball hard, and that will dictate it. I like team goals. I like going for a championship. That’s the biggest thing. I feel like when you are playing as a group, individual stats take care of themselves.”

Vaughn will transition to a more familiar role at first base this season after playing mostly in the corner outfield spots the last two years.

“I don’t look at it as a move to first,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “I look at it as last year, there was a move to left. [First base] is his natural position. When you get thrown into a new position without ever playing it at the Major League level, it’s tough. When you get thrown into a new position and you are told we need your bat, that’s even tougher.

“He’s just coming back home to his comfort zone, and that should help his all-around game for sure.”

Vaughn takes over for José Abreu (now with the Astros) and Paul Konerko, the duo that held down first base since 1999.

“They are Hall of Fame-caliber players,” Vaughn said. “Those are ginormous shoes to try to fill. Anybody would be crazy to try to do that. I just have to be myself and play my game every day.”

Vaughn came up early in 2021; '22 brought with it lessons.

“It’s a grind,” Vaughn said. “You have to get used to adversity and learn to deal with it. You learn how to take care of yourself. You learn from the guys around you, from the guys who have been in the game a long time. Just try to do anything you can to try to incorporate it into your game and your preparation.”

Bullpen begins role play

The White Sox enter Spring Training games with a host of live arms in a bullpen that will be without closer Liam Hendriks, at least in the short term. Right-handers Kendall Graveman, Joe Kelly and Reynaldo López and lefties Aaron Bummer and Jake Diekman are among the top candidates for high-leverage roles.

“How they slot in, that’s not right now. I just want to see them pitch first," Grifol said. "As we get closer to the season, we’ll start slotting these guys in. At the same time, we’re going to leverage a lot of these guys."

Matching up in late innings has become more common than the one-man-closes-all approach, and players have noticed.

“Obviously when Liam comes back, he is going to throw our ninth inning,” Graveman said. “That’s his job. To piece together the rest of it, let’s match up where we fit best so we can have the most success.

“It took me a while to learn that, because I had always grown up watching the seventh-, eighth- and ninth-inning guys. But it makes a lot of sense to me now. You see the Dodgers doing it. You see Tampa doing it. I think we’ll fit into that category.”

Spring opener

• Shortstop Tim Anderson will lead off in Chicago's Cactus League opener against San Diego on Saturday, Grifol said. The rest of the order: CF Luis Robert Jr., 3B Yoán Moncada, LF Eloy Jiménez, 1B Vaughn, C Yasmani Grandal, DH Gavin Sheets, LF Victor Reyes and 2B Leury Garcia.