Chicago White Sox Recall First Baseman Tim Elko

CHICAGO – The White Sox recalled Tim Elko ahead of Wednesday's 6:40 p.m. ET game against the Detroit Tigers at Rate Field. The 26-year-old right-hander is playing first base and batting sixth.

He began the season in Triple-A, then made his major league debut on May 10, only to be optioned back down to Charlotte 10 games later.

"It's been a journey and that's part of the game," Elko said Wednesday. "I've enjoyed every minute of it. You gotta enjoy the ups and downs. And yeah, being back here definitely feels great to be with these guys and just get ready to win some games."

Elko got off to a scorching hot start in Triple-A, slugging 10 home runs and posting a 1.100 OPS in his first 31 games. That led to his promotion to the big leagues, and he hit a three-run home run in his second game during a 4-2 win over the Marlins.

Elko played 10 games with the White Sox, and slashed .161/.188/.452/.639 with five hits, four runs, three home runs, five RBIs, one walk and 10 strikeouts in his first 32 major league plate appearances. He discussed his biggest takeaways from his first experience in the big leagues.

"Trying to stay within myself, not try to do too much and just kind of see ball hit ball," Elko said. "I think when I was up here at the beginning, I think maybe I was over swinging a little bit, trying to do a little too much and kind of just staying within myself and just trusting myself."

On May 23, he and Andrew Vaughn were optioned to Triple-A Charlotte after outfielders Mike Tauchman and Andrew Benintendi were activated from the injured list.

"They didn't really say a whole lot," Elko said of his demotion. "Just got optioned and just go down and keep doing what I'm doing and keep playing hard. And I'm back up here now."

White Sox general manager Chris Getz said on May 23 that he expected Elko to return at some point, and that he believed Elko had a major league career in front of him. After being sent down to Charlotte, Elko went 7-for-34 with one home run, three RBIs, zero walks and 12 strikeouts.

"Good job. It’s such a small sample, it’s hard to really break it down and be too critical of his performance either way," Venable said of Elko's recent Triple-A at-bats. "He’s continued to be on time, take good swings and construct good at-bats. Expecting more of the same here."

On Tuesday, Elko went 2-for-4 with two doubles, which made for some momentum going into his second stint with the White Sox.

"Some games are good, some games are bad. I felt really good yesterday. Kind of got back in my groove and felt like myself," Elko said. "So glad to be back here today."

Miguel Vargas played first base in 10 of the last 11 games, but he'll shift back to first base for most games with Elko back on the south side.

"[On Monday] were just talking about doing some iterations of our lineup where we do mix in Vargas at third base," Venable said. "Just to continue to mix it in because it’s such an important part of his game and he does so well. So now we have the opportunity to do that. We’ll mix back and forth but you’ll see him at third base."