Earlier this season, Colson Montgomery was not the only Chicago White Sox former first round pick that was trending in the wrong direction. Jacob Gonzalez, who was drafted 15th overall by the White Sox back in 2023, started his minor league career with major red flags.
He hit .207 with a .589 OPS in 30 games at Low-A Kannapolis in 2023 after ge was drafted. His slash line in 94 games last season at Double-A was .225/.284/.321.
Not only was Gonzalez struggling to hit for power, he was struggling to hit at all. It was not a good look, and it was hard explain considering he once hit .355 as a true freshman in the SEC.
Gonzalez was starting to look like another White Sox first round pick that would be lucky to just get a cup of coffee with the MLB squad.
Gonzalez got off to another rough start in 2025, with his average dropping to .207 with a .589 OPS as of May 16. But instead of pulling him from game action and sending him to Arizona to work with Ryan Fuller, the former Ole Miss Rebels infielder switched to the torpedo bat, per FutureSox
Jacob Gonzalez just may end up inside my top 10 White Sox prospects list. Hasn’t been that high since he got drafted.
— Dylan Barnas (@NotCease) June 15, 2025
He’s really finding a groove with the torpedo bat, and preventing K’s at a ridiculous rate (6 K in last calendar month), while tapping into some power. https://t.co/9ElBw1F4W6
The bat change is paying off
Since making the change to the torpedo bat, Jacob Gonzalez is hitting .313 with an OPS of .891. He has 14 extra-base hits in his last 31 games.
He's hitting for average and power while playing good defense on the infield. Suddenly, I feel some hope surrounding Gonzalez's future rather than dread.
It would not be shocking to see him move into the team's Top 10 prospects once Kyle Teel and Grant Taylor graduate from prospect status. Gonzalez is currently ranked as the 11th-best prospect in the team's farm system per MLB Pipeline.
More importantly, Gonzalez can be considered as a viable option to finally break a 20-year curse at second base. The team has been trying to replace Ray Durham and find a long-term solution for the position since 2002.
Gonzalez is now in the mix, along with Chase Meidroth, Caleb Bonemer, and Colson Montgomery, to be in the White Sox infield for an extended period of time.
Gonzalez can also play shortstop, but most scouts believe second base will be his position in the Major Leagues.
I'm not sure Gonzalez is ever going to be an All-Star player. But if he can develop into a consistent starter and post 1.5-2 fWAR every season, it would be a huge win considering the White Sox have done a terrible job of developing first round picks into solid ballplayers.
Andrew Vaughn's fWAR was -1.7 in five seasons on the South Side before finally being traded to Milwaukee. Vaughn was the third overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft.
While it would be great for some superstar players to emerge during this rebuild, developing players who raise the team's floor is also a need. Winning lineups are not completely made up of stars. Batting orders need solid, productive players, too.
If that is all Gonzalez turns out to be, it would be a huge draft win.