WATCH: All-time Ole Miss great Tim Elko quickly back to home-run-hitting ways following MiLB promotion
Tim Elko slugged his way to all-time-great status as an Ole Miss Rebel.
He was an almost-unprecedented three-time team captain and started every game for the Rebels over their national championship run in 2022. Elko led Ole Miss in slugging percentage (.642), RBI (75), home runs (24) and total bases (154) that year. He set a single-season program record for home runs (22 in the regular season) to move into second place in the career record book.
Elko got off to a slow start in the CWS. Even still, he finished with a .280 batting average and hit two home runs. The most consequential was in Game 1 of the finals, when Elko was 4 for 5 with a homer and three runs scored against Oklahoma. Ole Miss swept both games.
Basically, Elko has been a driving force for whichever teams he’s starred for going on four years now.
He was the Carolina League Player of the Month as a member of the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers last July — a month after the Rebels secured their first-ever title. The Cannon Ballers are the low-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, who made Elko a 10th round selection last summer.
He was named the organization’s Player of the Month in May.
“He’s the backbone of this team,” Ole Miss ace Dylan DeLucia said of Elko, in comments made nearly a year ago during Ole Miss’ run of 10 wins in 11 postseason games. The Rebels celebrated the one-year anniversary of their championship on Monday. DeLucia was CWS Most Valuable Player.
DeLucia added, “(Elko’s) kept us in it. He’s come up with some amazing hits and amazing home runs I’ve watched. Just all around, he’s been the guy that’s just lifted this team and brought it to the next level.”
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Ole Miss in the Pros: James McArthur gets the call and Tim Elko moves up the ranks in the minors
Elko and his 6-foot-4 shoulders continue to carry teams in the minors of Major League Baseball.
Elko earned a promotion to high-A Winston-Salem two days ago after a torrid run with the Cannon Ballers. He slashed .292/.357/.545 with a Southern-League-leading 17 home runs in 66 games.
Naturally, then Elko — after an 0-2 opening night with an RBI and a walk — didn’t need long to get back to his smashing ways as a member of the Dash. Elko picked up his first home run on Thursday. This is the first call-up of any kind for Elko, three months into his first season in the minors.
“Ole Miss means the world to me,” Elko said after winning it all as a Rebel. “I remember following the (2021) draft, I was praying and trying to figure out what I was going to do. God told me that I’m not done at Ole Miss.
“I listened to that, and I was like, ‘All right, well, let’s do this thing then.’ I came back, and it was the best decision I could have ever made.”
Check out The Captain’s latest exploits in the video below.
