I had given up on Jacob Gonzalez this offseason, after two-plus years of the Chicago White Sox’s 2023 first-round pick failing to produce at all in the high minors. I left him off my ranking of the top 20 prospects in the White Sox’s much-improved system, noting that he’d hit .232/.307/.345 as a 23-year-old in Double A and Triple A in 2025 and calling him “an extra infielder, if that.”That Jacob Gonzalez no longer exists. The one the White Sox just recalled from Triple A, who was leading the minors in homers at the time of his call-up and was off to a very strong start despite playing a new position (first base), might be one of their best hitters — and a future All-Star.Gonzalez completely remade his swing this offseason. It was a swing overhaul reminiscent of what the White Sox did last spring with another of their first-rounders who had stalled in the minors, Colson Montgomery. I recently spoke with Gonzalez and Chicago’s director of hitting (and miracle worker) Ryan Fuller about how they completely rebuilt his mechanics in such a short period of time.In college at Mississippi, Gonzalez hit with a deep crouch and was way over his back side through most of when he was making contact. His hands started very high, creating a much longer path to the ball once he got started. When he hit, he’d struggle to transfer his weight consistently, and often spun off his front heel, flying open as a result, yanking the ball to right field. With the aluminum bats in college baseball, he made it work, but with wood bats he had difficulty getting results starting from his professional debut.Jacob Gonzalez, seen here batting for Team USA in 2022, had a significantly different setup at the plate in college that he brought to pro ball. (Tracy Proffitt / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)After putting up subpar numbers his first two-plus pro seasons, Gonzalez knew something had to change. He said those adjustments actually began at the end of last year.“Since I started in pro ball, I had been struggling to get my direction to go towards the pitcher and not towards right field,” he said. “I couldn’t figure out how to do it. Then one day, the second-to-last week of the (2025) season, I decided to stride closed and see what that did.“That was the first time ever my direction was good. The last week of the season I felt good, so went back to how I hit in college but with my stride closed, and I went into offseason working on that. Just feeling my direction and trying to drive the ball to left-center more.”Once the season ended, the work continued for Gonzalez at the White Sox’s January minor-league camp in Arizona, where Gonzalez lives.“He wasn’t invited, but he asked to be a part of it,” Fuller said. “He was the oldest guy there. He came in with his swing, where he was hunched over his setup, and his back leg had a ton of weight on it. It was a very compromised position from the setup. He was adamant that he wanted to stick with it, but we saw pretty quickly other guys were looking better than he was — and he’s the Triple-A player and first-round pick. We told him, your OPS is in the .600s. You have bat speed, but it’s not able to come out where you’re setting up.”“Ryan just showed me what they thought, I told him what I thought, and we tried to do what I wanted to do within what they were doing,” Gonzalez said. “They obviously wanted me to hit tall, like I am right now. When we first agreed on it, it wasn’t how I hit right now. I changed maybe after two or three weeks. I told them I like to hit pre-loaded — I don’t want to have to load before swinging. I’d rather just stride and swing versus do a whole load while I’m striding. I like having my weight on my back leg and just get going, and that’s how I hit in college — but it was super low.