MILWAUKEE – Before the 2025 season began, Andrew Vaughn still hadn’t lived up to the lofty expectations bestowed upon him as a former third-overall pick.
Eight months later, Vaughn is the poster child for a change of scenery.
Vaughn belted the go-ahead solo shot against Cubs right-hander Colin Rea in the fourth inning of the Brewers’ 3-1 clincher in Game 5 of the National League Division Series on Saturday night at American Family Field.
His second home run of the NLDS – what he called the biggest swing of his life – came on a middle-middle cutter that he drilled over the left-field wall to cap a seven-pitch at-bat.
“I blacked out,” Vaughn said. “I felt like I was on the clouds just trying to make sure I hit every base.”
Well before Vaughn could imagine clutch postseason home runs, he slugged 77 taters for the White Sox from 2021-25. But Chicago optioned a struggling Vaughn (career-worst .532 OPS) to Triple-A Charlotte on May 23 for a reset, where he played for 15 games.
While Vaughn tried to regain his confidence in the White Sox system, right-hander Aaron Civale, then with the Brewers, wanted to remain in Milwaukee’s rotation or be traded to another team that would use him as a starter. On June 13, the White Sox and Brewers struck a deal: Milwaukee sent Civale and cash to Chicago for Vaughn, who has one more year of club control via arbitration.
Just like that, Vaughn went from one of the worst teams in baseball to the best. He still remembers that initial call from the Brewers, one that included a simple enough message: “Just play free, be myself, go back to my roots and just have fun playing the game. Nothing huge. I think the best message was, ‘Swing at strikes, take balls and just be better at that.’”
“He fits our mantra as well,” general manager Matt Arnold said. “This guy’s a gamer, and he’s been through a lot, and he’s failed, just like all of us, right? We’ve all failed in this sport. If you haven’t, you haven’t been doing it long enough, and so we’ve all failed. And for that guy to come in here and be himself and put the team on his back at times this year is really awesome.”
But Vaughn’s Brewers journey didn’t start at American Family Field. Milwaukee assigned him to Triple-A Nashville, where he played 15 games, and didn’t recall him until July 7 – when first baseman Rhys Hoskins landed on the injured list with a sprained left thumb.
“I didn’t say much to him,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy recalled. “I just said, ‘Hey, great to have you here. Here’s the deal: You’ll go back to Triple-A if you chase.’ So I don’t know if he even understood what I was talking about, or even listened to it. I just said, ‘Hey, if you start chasing, you’re going back to Triple-A.’
“He got there at noon, and the game was at 7. I said, ‘And by the way, you’re starting tonight. And some guy named [Yoshinobu] Yamamoto [is pitching], I think he’s pretty good, so take a look.’”
Vaughn would go on to hit nine home runs in his first 29 games with Milwaukee, showing signs of what made him the most enticing college bat in the 2019 Draft class.
Vaughn didn’t go deep over his final 35 regular-season games, or in Game 1 of the NLDS (a span totaling 146 plate appearances). But he snapped out of it with a three-run blast in an historic first inning in a Game 2 victory, and once again in Saturday’s win, which also featured long balls from William Contreras and Brice Turang.
“He’s just a great dude,” said Christian Yelich, Milwaukee’s longest-tenured position player. “This game’s about perseverance and just really, really proud of him.”
“The journey has been kind of crazy, but not taking anything for granted,” Vaughn said. “The opportunity to be with this group, it’s changed my life, honestly. And just grateful for it.”
