Spare Parts: Jacob Gonzalez had timing down on first MLB homer

Because baseball broadcasts can't be scripted, it's always a gosh-darn delight when a game provides a moment that couldn't have been written any better.

A famous White Sox example that comes to mind: Joe Buck asking Tim McCarver if the Astros should've given Lidge a low-leverage appearance to get rid of any potential aftertaste from Albert Pujols' Enron-wrecking homer in the 2005 NLCS, and McCarver saying "I don't think the taste is there" right before Scott Podsednik hits a walk-off homer to end Game 2 of the World Series.

A far less famous White Sox example: The Twins broadcast shrugging off a decision to pitch to Avisaíl García with bases open in 2017, with Bert Blyleven saying "Everybody likes challenges" right before a rifle shot rings through Target Field.

There wasn't quite the same impeccable pacing with the Phillies' broadcast as Jacob Gonzalez came to the plate against Andrew Painter in the third inning, but they chose that particular at-bat to focus on Mike Vasil waving around his Harry Potter wand, as Colson Montgomery had activated it with a solo shot two batters before.

"What is that thing?" started play-by-play broadcaster Tom McCarthy.

"No idea," responded analyst John Kruk.

"Is that a Harry Potter wand?"

"Well I've never seen Harry Potter, maybe he's like a conductor, [of an] orchestra. Don't they have that little wand thing they twirl around?"

"Yeah, they do ... swing and miss," McCarthy then resumed as Gonzalez waved over an 0-1 Painter splitter.

Then McCarthy started, "Let's check out 'White Sox home run celebration' and see what we get. Takes some dedication to keep doing it..."

And as the camera flipped back from Vasil's wand-waving to the pitch, Gonzalez unloaded for a second deck shot.

"Oh man, that ball is crushed," McCarthy stressed, as he pivoted.

While that particular snippet of the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast suggests derision or mockery, McCarthy and Kruk had heaped praise upon the White Sox lineup as Montgomery rounded the bases minutes earlier in the inning.

"Well, they are aggressive," McCarthy said.

"They're young, they're aggressive, they're athletic, they've got some pop in the middle of that lineup," Kruk responded, adding about a replay of Montgomery from the side, "That's just a pretty swing, Tom."'

Here's where you remember that the 2026 White Sox are largely unknown, especially in interleague play. Prior to Opening Day, their most identifiable quality was their string of three consecutive 100-loss seasons, including the losingest record in modern MLB history two years before, so it's hard to blame any opposing broadcast that looks into a White Sox dugout and struggles to recognize anything it sees.

Spare Parts

• Some MLB organizations are more injury-prone than others. Is that bad luck or a system issue? -- The Athletic

Eno Sarris and Brittany Ghiroli dig into MLB injury data, and the reasons why "days lost to injury" is or isn't an important metric. Sometimes it reflects the reality of some rosters getting stuck banking on bad bets (the White Sox lost the second-most MLB days to injury from 2024-26), but sometimes a team courts that metric knowingly by amassing high-risk depth, hoping that enough players will stay healthy to carry the load (the Dodgers lost the most, by far). Other organizations that lose the fewest days just might be churning through options fast enough that players who look hurt aren't retained, and thus don't count against their tab.

One thing that caught my eye, just because it's suddenly relevant to the White Sox:

“Bat speed and velocity pursuits have downstream effects,” said an AL executive. “Bigger, stronger, faster leads to more force generation. The greater the force you apply, the more pressure you create. Pressure eventually breaks things.”

A few years ago, as oblique injuries seemingly swept through the game, one AL organization closely examined their weighted bat program. They talked to players and looked at their strength and conditioning rotational movements. They crunched the numbers to see how their oblique injuries stacked up to the rest of the league. They were just about average. Should they have cared more? Spent more time and resources evaluating their programs in hopes of avoiding one or two more injuries? Would it even have helped? In the end, that organization kept things mostly the same.

• Why the threat of a work stoppage in 2027 shouldn't impact this year's MLB trade deadline -- The Athletic

Another thing that's suddenly relevant: how the possible work stoppage after the season could affect the buying activity of teams at the deadline. Ken Rosenthal's survey of the league doesn't see teams changing behavior, perhaps because deadline buys have been relatively conservative as of late, with few top-100 prospects changing hands.

• Asian leagues are becoming a career springboard for pitchers. Here's why -- MLB.com

Travis Sawchik talked to Brian Bannister -- who has overseen the stateside reintroductions of Erick Fedde and Anthony Kay --- as part of his larger story about how pitchers are seeing tours in NPB or the KBO as real opportunities rather than something to settle on.

"I think the primary reason pitchers are coming back with more success is they finally take a chance on pitching in a different style or adding a new pitch that they were hesitant to experiment with while [in MLB]," Bannister said. "Lower-spin pitchers that switch to more of an east-west style or pitchers that add a splitter are two examples of beneficial arsenal changes that have resulted in higher production ceilings when they return."

• Amid the Padres' skid, Manny Machado has a request: 'Get the analytics out of the way' -- The Athletic

The Padres snapped their six-game losing streak on Saturday, but they're still eight games back of the Dodgers in the NL West because it turns out that Gavin Sheets being a team's most productive qualified hitter is great news for Sheets, but him having 10 times as many homers as Fernando Tatis Jr. is not. Anyway, Manny Machado is complaining about analytics when he's hitting .176.

• Tigers drill Mariners' Josh Naylor with fastball: 'I knew it was on purpose' -- Seattle Times

Keider Montero drilled Josh Naylor on Saturday, perhaps in retaliation for Naylor flinging his sliding mitt at Dillon Dingler as he approached home as a throw looked like it was going to beat him. Naylor maintains it was an accident, saying he expected to have a little more time to fasten it before he started running, but the timing and accuracy was impeccable.

But Naylor also collided with Kevin McGonigle unnecessarily, so there might've been multiple reasons.

• A Triple-A game, missed flight, then a KC game-winner for Josh Rojas -- MLB.com

Josh Rojas is back in the big leagues, playing in two games at two levels in one day, and helping the Royals with the latter with a two-run single.