Jacob Gonzalez is finally producing at Triple-A Charlotte, and with the White Sox’s track record of promoting first-round picks, his MLB debut feels inevitable in 2026.
Of all the players in the Chicago White Sox farm system, I'm not sure any of them have had a more surprising start to the 2026 season than infielder Jacob Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, a former first-round and 15th overall pick by the White Sox in the 2023 MLB Draft, hadn't given White Sox fans many reasons for optimism through the first three seasons of his professional career.
Before 2026, Gonzalez's best season was one in which he batted .232 with eight home runs and a .652 OPS. For a player with defensive questions who was thought to be a somewhat reliable offensive product coming out of college at Ole Miss, that was a serious concern and pretty damning for his future, even if he'd made it up to Triple-A Charlotte at the end of the 2025 season.
To his credit, Gonzalez hasn't shied away from that. “At this point I’m just needing to reprove myself and show that I can help out at the big league level,” Gonzalez said in a recent interview with Scott Merkin of MLB.com.
He's not just talking the talk, either. Gonzalez has put the work in. This past offseason, he spent time at the team's spring training complex in Arizona, time back in Mississippi, and even some time in California working out with his dad. Through evaluating his swing and stance in the box, Gonzalez believes he found a mix that makes him more efficient with his movement, modeling his swing after former St. Louis Cardinal All-Star Matt Carpenter.
The changes he has made are clearly working, because 2026 has been a completely different story. In 28 games with Triple-A Charlotte, Gonzalez is batting .291 with eight home runs, 26 RBIs, four stolen bases, and an OPS of .976.
And while many White Sox fans, and maybe even the White Sox themselves, don't exactly know where Gonzalez is going to fit in with this current team, a look back at White Sox history makes it pretty obvious that Jacob Gonzalez will be playing for the MLB team at some point in 2026.
If for no other reason than because he was a first-round pick, and White Sox first-round picks almost always get an opportunity in Chicago.
Looking back at the team's draft history, excluding rising prospects from the most recent draft selections like Billy Carlson and Hagen Smith, and Gonzalez himself in 2023, there is a streak of 11 consecutive first-rounders selected by the White Sox who have also made their debut in a White Sox uniform.
Tim Anderson was drafted in 2013, Carlos Rodón in 2014, and Carson Fulmer in 2015. The White Sox selected both Zack Collins and Zack Burdi in the first round of the 2016 MLB Draft. Jake Burger was drafted in 2017, followed by Nick Madrigal in 2018, Andrew Vaughn in 2019, Garrett Crochet in 2020, Colson Montgomery in 2021, and the most recent to debut, left-handed pitcher Noah Schultz, who went 26th overall in the 2022 draft.
That’s 11 straight first-rounders to make the big leagues with the White Sox.
Now granted, a lot of this is because the White Sox made a habit of drafting college prospects who were closer to the big leagues. Colson Montgomery and Noah Schultz are actually the only high schoolers in this group. And players like Anderson, Rodón, and Crochet obviously turned into MLB All-Stars with very fine careers.
But even someone like Zack Burdi, who had a 4.43 career ERA in the minor leagues, was given an opportunity in Chicago in 2020 and 2021, almost solely on the fact that he had first-round pedigree. The White Sox wanted a return on that investment.
Jacob Gonzalez doesn't have to be a perfectly fitting puzzle piece to get the call. The White Sox are starting to see the player they drafted with the 15th overall pick, and now that he's 23 years old and playing with some confidence, I expect the organization to bring him up the first time they see an opportunity.