Elko has been turning heads with the Birmingham Barons since the start of the season, and that has only continued since he was joined by his former Rebel teammate. Gonzalez, meanwhile, wasted no time getting hot at the Double-A level—a vision come to reality for the pair.
“It’s been awesome,” Elko told WLOX. “We’ve been talking about it since he got drafted, just how cool it’ll be when we get to play on the same team again. To have it happen here, it’s been awesome, just reconnecting and have him throw it to me from wherever he’s playing.”
“We’ve been talking about it since the draft that we wanted to play with each other again and we finally get to,” Gonzalez said. “Hopefully, we keep moving up fast and get to play in the big leagues together. That would be awesome.”
The Biloxi Beach Chickens made their debut on Saturday night, but once again the story was Tim Elko and Jake Gonzalez.
The former @OleMissBSB duo has combined for 14 RBI’s in the series, more than the entire Shuckers team (13) through the first five games this week: pic.twitter.com/vzb7rWWCu1
— Matt DeGregorio (@Matt_DeGregorio) May 26, 2024
In the first nine games after the former All-American’s call-up, he has recorded five multi-hit games with four doubles, a home run, and eight RBI at the dish. Gonzalez’s red-hot debut for the Barons earned him the Southern League Player of the Week last week as the Rebel duo led the Barons to a six-game road sweep of the Biloxi Shuckers.
Jacob Gonzalez is off to a hot start in Birmingham, winning Southern League Player of the Week! 🤩🏆
He helped lead the Barons to a 6 game sweep of the Shuckers last week in Biloxi! #bhambarons pic.twitter.com/3RurWA77WD
— Birmingham Barons (@BhamBarons) May 28, 2024
GONZALEZ’S FIRST AA HOME RUN 🤩
6-3 Barons#bhambarons pic.twitter.com/Knb0OSwpx6
— Birmingham Barons (@BhamBarons) May 23, 2024
“All of our teammates have been saying, oh you’re back in Mississippi so you guys are hitting,” Elko said. “Just getting the Mississippi air here on the coast has been great and the team is rolling right now.”
Elko has been arguably the hottest bat in the Barons lineup all season. Elko went deep for the sixth time in Tuesday night’s 4-0 win over the Rocket City Trash Pandas. After earning a spring training invite in the offseason, Elko hasn’t disappointed, hitting .289 with six home runs, and 21 RBI on the year with the Birmingham Barons.
Barons 1st baseman Tim Elko has been heating up in May, going 27-of-84 for a .321 average with 6 doubles, 3 home runs, and 12 RBIs.
Elko has a hit in 19 of the last 20 games.#bhambarons pic.twitter.com/c0RSIntxyV
— Birmingham Barons (@BhamBarons) May 28, 2024
IT’S WAYYY OUT OF HERE!!
Elko hits a 3-run home run to give the Barons a 3-0 lead in the 3rd!#bhambarons pic.twitter.com/gessPjwL3y
— Birmingham Barons (@BhamBarons) May 29, 2024
Elko’s performance could see him rise to the top of the White Sox top prospect rankings. He was tabbed as the organization’s No. 39 prospect by SouthSideSox.com going into the season. Jacob Gonzalez is currently ranked No. 7 by MLB in the White Sox farm system.
