Delaware’s Zack Gelof is doing remarkable things
Zack Gelof is a 23 year old rookie who got called up to the Oakland A’s over a month ago. Since joining the team, he’s brought great defense, a hot bat, and a spark that the A’s were missing.
Gelof is off to a historic start with a .266 batting average with 27 runs, 46 hits, 23 rbi’s, and 10 homeruns. His longest home run being 433 feet against the Washington Nationals on August 13th 2023. https://twitter.com/Athletics/status/1690780320155742208?s=20
Not only has Zack been impressive for the A’s, he got awarded the league’s AL rookie of the month for the month of August. With all of his stats being on the GREAT side of the scale, there’s no doubt that he is capable of many things. In the month of August, he made MLB history by being the first player since 1990 to record more than 8 home runs and more than 6 stolen bases in their first 25 games. He also made Athletics’s history by becoming the first player to have 20 extra base-hits and 20 runs scored through his first 28 games played.
Although his batting is monumental, it isn’t his only strength. Gelof being 6 '2 has incredible range and speed for a second baseman. He usually starts his positioning closer to the literal second base and makes most of his plays with an 80% success rate with every ball that is hit to him. He demonstrates his range by producing outs in shallow right field.
Gelof bouncing around the lineup from 1st to 4th has established a strong spot for himself in the lineup at second or third. He has the most success facing right handers with an average of .276 through 127 AB’s. He’s just getting started and don’t forget to remember the name Zack Gelof.
Not only has Zack been impressive for the A’s, he got awarded the league’s AL rookie of the month for the month of August. With all of his stats being on the GREAT side of the scale, there’s no doubt that he is capable of many things. In the month of August, he made MLB history by being the first player since 1990 to record more than 8 home runs and more than 6 stolen bases in their first 25 games. He also made Athletics’s history by becoming the first player to have 20 extra base-hits and 20 runs scored through his first 28 games played.
Although his batting is monumental, it isn’t his only strength. Gelof being 6 '2 has incredible range and speed for a second baseman. He usually starts his positioning closer to the literal second base and makes most of his plays with an 80% success rate with every ball that is hit to him. He demonstrates his range by producing outs in shallow right field.
Gelof bouncing around the lineup from 1st to 4th has established a strong spot for himself in the lineup at second or third. He has the most success facing right handers with an average of .276 through 127 AB’s. He’s just getting started and don’t forget to remember the name Zack Gelof.
CJ and Maddie’s hot takes for the MLB 2023 Trade Deadline
With the trade deadline coming up in a couple weeks on August 1st, we all have our guesses on who will stay and go. So here are Maddie and CJ’s projected buyers and sellers at the trade deadline.
Buyers
- The Diamondbacks have had a season that has surprised all, currently at 54-43 and 2 games back from the Dodgers in first, the Diamondbacks without a doubt will be buyers at the trade deadline. The D-backs have struggled with starting pitching in this first half of the season so they will be targeting SP like Shane Bieber, Lucas Giolito, and Eduardo Rodríguez. Could the D-backs make a playoff push if they get their key needs at the deadline?
Cincinnati Reds - The Cincinnati Reds have also been another team that has surprised all us baseball fans out there, the Reds are sitting comfortably in the NL Central at 2nd place with a record of 52-46 with only being 2.5 games back from the Brewers. The Reds organization have gained lots of confidence after bringing up the number 2 prospect in the MLB, Elly de La Cruz, de La Cruz is batting .279 with 4 HR and 16 RBIs in the few games he played in the first half of the season. So what is this Reds team missing? They are missing a key starter for this Reds team, The Reds have Hunter Greene, their current ace (currently injured at this time), but they are looking to add more depth into the rotation, so the Reds will more than likely target players like Lance Lynn, Eduardo Rodríguez, and Mike Clevinger.
- The Diamondbacks have had a season that has surprised all, currently at 54-43 and 2 games back from the Dodgers in first, the Diamondbacks without a doubt will be buyers at the trade deadline. The D-backs have struggled with starting pitching in this first half of the season so they will be targeting SP like Shane Bieber, Lucas Giolito, and Eduardo Rodríguez. Could the D-backs make a playoff push if they get their key needs at the deadline?
Cincinnati Reds - The Cincinnati Reds have also been another team that has surprised all us baseball fans out there, the Reds are sitting comfortably in the NL Central at 2nd place with a record of 52-46 with only being 2.5 games back from the Brewers. The Reds organization have gained lots of confidence after bringing up the number 2 prospect in the MLB, Elly de La Cruz, de La Cruz is batting .279 with 4 HR and 16 RBIs in the few games he played in the first half of the season. So what is this Reds team missing? They are missing a key starter for this Reds team, The Reds have Hunter Greene, their current ace (currently injured at this time), but they are looking to add more depth into the rotation, so the Reds will more than likely target players like Lance Lynn, Eduardo Rodríguez, and Mike Clevinger.
Baltimore Orioles - The Orioles, another shocker team to the baseball world this season has turned a rebuild into a solid winning baseball team, The Orioles current leading the AL East after beating the Tampa Bay Rays Thursday night, have been red hot in the last 10 game with a record of 8-2 in the last 10 games. The Orioles have one of the best offensive and defensive lineups in the league, but where the Orioles struggle is their middle bullpen, the orioles have solid starters like Kyle Bradish, Tyler Wells, and Kyle Gibson, and having the best closing duo in the league (I’m a bias orioles fan but it’s still not wrong- Cj) with Yennier Cano and Felix Bautista. But the Orioles struggle with their middle bullpen so they will more then likely target players like Jordan Hicks, Kendall Graveman and SP Shane Bieber.
Sellers
Colorado Rockies - The Rockies are 9 games back of the San Diego Padres and currently hold the last place spot in the NL west with 37 wins. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games and players such as C.J Cron, Jurickson Profar, Randal Grichuk being free agents, that leaves them with a big bullpen but not many position players. They will need to get rid of some pitchers and work on gaining more position players and specifically more infielders.
Oakland Athletics - The A’s aren’t expected to win the World Series anytime soon. They don’t have any free agents but they do have veteran players such as Tony Kemp in the infield and Brent Rooker plus Seth Brown in the outfield that play positions that have many backups. With recently calling up top prospects Zack Gelof and Tyler Soderstrom, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more prospects because of their performances in Triple A. Brent Rooker was an all-star this past ASG and didn’t do horrible plus he has been impressive this season which means I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t in the green and gold at the end of the season.
Sellers
Colorado Rockies - The Rockies are 9 games back of the San Diego Padres and currently hold the last place spot in the NL west with 37 wins. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games and players such as C.J Cron, Jurickson Profar, Randal Grichuk being free agents, that leaves them with a big bullpen but not many position players. They will need to get rid of some pitchers and work on gaining more position players and specifically more infielders.
Oakland Athletics - The A’s aren’t expected to win the World Series anytime soon. They don’t have any free agents but they do have veteran players such as Tony Kemp in the infield and Brent Rooker plus Seth Brown in the outfield that play positions that have many backups. With recently calling up top prospects Zack Gelof and Tyler Soderstrom, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more prospects because of their performances in Triple A. Brent Rooker was an all-star this past ASG and didn’t do horrible plus he has been impressive this season which means I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t in the green and gold at the end of the season.
Who Is Jacob Wilson And Why Is He So Good?
The Oakland Athletics selected Jacob Wilson (Son of former MLB player Jack Wilson) of Grand Canyon University with the 6th pick in the first round of the 2023 MLB draft. He recently signed to agree to terms with the team and Wilson being a california native, couldn’t be more excited.
Wilson is a stellar all-around player. He received the “rookie of the year” award at GCU’s camp canyon and made first team all-wac. In his freshman year at GCU, he had a .313 batting average through 182 AB’s and a .964 fielding percentage. A very impressive stat was his strikeout number being just 19 through 182 AB’s meaning he is reliable and won’t hold back while in the box. He is the right person to have in those clutch moments having 29 RBI’s. His best offensive game was on June 4th 2021 when GCU fell to Arizona going 3–5 with 1 RBI and 1 double. His best defensive game was on May 28th 2021 where he had a .1000 fielding percentage recording 3 putouts.
Putting the extra work in started showing and paying off in his sophomore year. He had a .358 batting average through 246 AB’s. He became more impressive by improving his RBI’s number and strikeout number with bringing in a total of 65 runs and striking out 3 times for the whole season. He is a guy you want on base walking 25 times and using his knowledge to help him get extra bases. His best offensive game was on March 19th 2022 when GCU played Utah Valley beating them and going 5–5 with 2 RBI’s. His best defensive game was on May 13th where he had a .1000 fielding percentage recording 6 putouts.
Putting the extra work in started showing and paying off in his sophomore year. He had a .358 batting average through 246 AB’s. He became more impressive by improving his RBI’s number and strikeout number with bringing in a total of 65 runs and striking out 3 times for the whole season. He is a guy you want on base walking 25 times and using his knowledge to help him get extra bases. His best offensive game was on March 19th 2022 when GCU played Utah Valley beating them and going 5–5 with 2 RBI’s. His best defensive game was on May 13th where he had a .1000 fielding percentage recording 6 putouts.
This past season, he had the best stats he’s had all 3 years with 79 hits, 61 RBI’s, 17 doubles, 4 triples, 6 home runs, 19 walks, and 5 strikeouts. He improved with having more productive AB’s and getting more confident at the plate.
He will bring a competitive edge and smart baseball knowledge to the A’s. He has incredible range and uses his speed to his advantage when making plays. Being the shortstop, he has a strong arm and even when he bobbles the ball he still makes the play because he’s quick. He is dedicated to the game and is a hard worker who puts in the 110% percent always. “You can’t hit a bad ground ball when you’re hitting to Jacob” said Gregg Wallis (HC of GCU) meaning he takes his reps seriously and always looks to improve. I’m very excited to see him and what he can do when he starts to play in the pros.
He will bring a competitive edge and smart baseball knowledge to the A’s. He has incredible range and uses his speed to his advantage when making plays. Being the shortstop, he has a strong arm and even when he bobbles the ball he still makes the play because he’s quick. He is dedicated to the game and is a hard worker who puts in the 110% percent always. “You can’t hit a bad ground ball when you’re hitting to Jacob” said Gregg Wallis (HC of GCU) meaning he takes his reps seriously and always looks to improve. I’m very excited to see him and what he can do when he starts to play in the pros.
You should be watching the A’s and here’s why
The Oakland Athletics recently called up top prospects Tyler Soderstrom and Zack Gelof. Soderstrom was selected by the A’s in the 1st round being the 26th pick in the 2020 draft. Gelof was also drafted by the A’s in the 2nd round being the 60th pick in the 2021 draft
Delaware’s Zack Gelof has been impressive since the beginning. He was a multi sport athlete in high school and won many awards such as 2018 Gatorade player of the year, First team all-state shortstop, Rawlings 2018 honorable mention, and 1st team northeast all region. He went to the University Of Virginia where he played for 3 years. As a freshman he started every game playing third base ending the season with a .316 batting average. In his sophomore year, he continued having a hot bat with improving his batting average to .349 with 24 runs scored which led the ACC. As a junior, he batted .312, had 81 hits and was top 10 in runs(50), doubles(18), total bases(126), and was named second team all-acc. Before getting called up he was playing second base, batting .304 with 60 runs, 44 RBI’s, and 20 stolen bases.
California native Tyler Soderstrom got drafted right out of high school. He committed to play college baseball at UCLA but he got drafted after his senior year and played pro ball. He played in the 2019 Under-Armour All American Game and played for the United States National baseball team. Soderstrom started with the Stockton Ports (Single A) in 2021 and had a good performance which led to him getting picked to play in the All-Star Futures Game. He was placed on the IL with a lower back injury and didn’t play the rest of the season. His stats were a .306 batting average, 12 home runs, 49 RBI’s, and 20 doubles. He then worked his way up the system by being called up to the Lansing Lugnuts( High A) to start the season and then quickly was called up to the Midland Rockhounds(Double A). He showed out and got called up to play for the Triple A Las Vegas Aviators. Combined with all 3 teams he had a stellar .267 batting average with 29 home runs and 105 RBI’s. Soderstrom represented the A’s again at the All-Star futures games this past year. Before he got called up, he was playing catcher and he had a .254 batting average with 20 home runs and 59 RBI’s.
Both of these prospects got called up on July 12th. They made their MLB debuts after the all-star break on Friday July 14th against the Minnesota Twins at home. Gelof started at 2nd batting 6th and Soderstrom was in the DH position batting 5th. Gelof collected his first MLB hit with a shot off the right field wall to fall back into the field to be a stand up double. Both players were very aggressive and confident swinging at the first pitch of their AB’s.
Although the A’s aren’t the highest scoring team, these two prospects already have added runs to the A’s total. The A’s have been missing those key moments with clutch hits and the younger guys getting called up can definitely help the team.
Although the A’s aren’t the highest scoring team, these two prospects already have added runs to the A’s total. The A’s have been missing those key moments with clutch hits and the younger guys getting called up can definitely help the team.