Jacob Jesus Gonzalez (born May 30, 2002) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

in the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

organization.

Early life

Jacob Jesus Gonzalez was born on May 30, 2002, in

Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Southern California in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 United States ...

. His father, Jess, was a professional baseball pitcher in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

and independent leagues from 1994 to 1996. Gonazlez grew up in

Glendora, California Glendora is a city in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County, California, east of Los Angeles. As of the 2020 census, the population of Glendora was 52,558. Known as the "Pride of the Foothills", Glendora is nestled in the foothills o ...

, playing travel baseball with SGV Hustle in addition to playing for Glendora American Little League. He attended

Glendora High School Glendora High School (GHS) is located in Glendora, California, Glendora, Los Angeles County, California, United States. History The high school was built in 1958 on land owned by Clarks Gordan, an orange grower. Before it was built, Glendora stu ...

where he was a four-year

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

in both

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and baseball as an

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

. Gonzalez became the starting quarterback for Glendora in 2018–19, his junior year of high school. He accumulated 1,520 passing yards during the regular season, among the most in the

CIF Southern Section The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section (CIF-SS) is the governing body for high school athletics in most of Southern California and is the largest of the ten sections that comprise the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF ...

(CIF-SS). In 2019–20, his senior year, Gonzalez led Glendora to a 9–1 regular season record and was named to the All-CIF-SS Division 5 team. He finished his high school football career with 4,487 yards, 62 total touchdowns, and 15 interceptions. In 2016–17, his freshman season with the Glendora baseball team, Gonzalez posted a .396

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

with five doubles and 25

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(RBIs). In December 2017, prior to his sophomore season, he committed to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Ole Miss Rebels The Ole Miss Rebels are the 18 men's and women's intercollegiate athletic teams that are funded by and represent the University of Mississippi, located in Oxford. The first was the football team, which began play in 1893. Originally known as th ...

. He finished his second year batting .398 with seven doubles and 25 RBIs and

struck out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denot ...

only five times. In Gonzalez's 2018–19 junior season, he improved his batting average to .420 with three

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, eight doubles, and 23 RBIs. Midway through his 2019–20 senior year, Gonzalez was batting .346 with two doubles and five RBIs before the baseball season was prematurely canceled in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. For his high school baseball career, he batted .390 with 119 hits, four home runs, and 74 RBIs. After going undrafted in the abridged

2020 Major League Baseball draft The 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season ...

, Gonzalez honored his commitment to enroll at Ole Miss.

College career

Gonzalez was named the starting shortstop for Ole Miss as a freshman in 2021. Over 67 starts, he batted .355 with 12 home runs, 55 RBIs, and 16 doubles. He was named to the All-SEC First Team, was named Freshman of the Year by D1Baseball, and was named an All-American by D1Baseball and the

National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) is an association of baseball writers, broadcasters, and publicists in the United States. It was founded in 1962. The NCBWA compiles a preseason ranking of the top 35 teams in the nati ...

. He was just the second player in Ole Miss baseball history to be named an All-American as a freshman. He returned as the team's starting shortstop and began batting in the leadoff spot in 2022. Gonzalez ended the 2022 season slashing .273/.405/.558 with 18 home runs and 52 RBIs over 65 games, leading Ole Miss to their first ever

NCAA Championship The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

. Following the season's end, he played with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. For the 2023 season with Ole Miss, Gonzalez played in 54 games and hit .327 with ten home runs, 51 RBIs, and 18 doubles.

Professional career

Gonzalez was selected by the

with the 15th overall pick in the 2023 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the team for $3.9 million.

Personal life

Gonzalez is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. He has said, “I believe that since God has given me the gift of playing baseball, I start each game with the mindset that the glory is His. I have started writing ‘Audience of One’ in the dirt before each game to remind me that it all points back to Him.”

References

External links

Ole Mis Rebels baseball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Jacob 2002 births Living people Baseball players from Whittier, California Baseball shortstops Ole Miss Rebels baseball players People from Glendora, California