Zachary Dunn Gelof (born October 19, 1999) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

for the

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as Wahoos or Hoos, are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic Coast C ...

. He was selected by the Athletics in the second round of the

2021 MLB draft The 2021 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was s ...

, and made his MLB debut for them in 2023. Gelof played for Team Israel in the

2023 World Baseball Classic The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball tournament and the fifth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. It began on March 8, 2023, and ran until March 21. It was originally scheduled to take place in ...

Personal life

Gelof is a son of Kelly and Adam Gelof, both of whom are attorneys. He is Jewish. His younger brother Jake Gelof played baseball as a third baseman for the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

, was drafted in the second round of the 2023 draft by the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

, and now plays in the Dodgers organization; Jake was Zack's teammate in both high school and college.

Amateur career

High school

Gelof grew up in

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Rehoboth Beach ( ) is a city on the Atlantic Ocean along the List of beaches in Delaware, Delaware Beaches in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. As of 2020, its population was 1,108. Along with the neighboring coastal town of Lewes, ...

, where he attended

Hebrew school Hebrew school is Jewish education focusing on topics of Jewish history, learning the Hebrew language, and finally learning one's Torah Portion, in preparation for the ceremony in Judaism of entering adulthood, known as a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Heb ...

in the Seaside Jewish Community. He attended

Cape Henlopen High School Cape Henlopen High School (CHHS) is a public high school in unincorporated Sussex County, Delaware, United States, with a Lewes postal address. The school is part of the Cape Henlopen School District and is located between Savannah Road and Kin ...

. Gelof served as Class President for each of his four years. He played every game of the high school baseball team's four seasons in his years in high school. In his senior year, playing

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

and pitching, he batted .465 and led the state in hits (35), runs (37), and

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s (7) and was 28-for-28 in

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s, along with 17 RBIs. As a pitcher he was 4-0 with a 1.30

ERA An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

, and 34

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s in 26

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

s, and threw an 87 miles per hour

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch (baseball), pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. Its distinctive feature is its high speed. "Power pitchers," such as former major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, relied on the ...

. He was named 2018 Delaware Gatorade Player of Year, Delaware Baseball Coaches Player of the Year, ''Delaware News Journal'' First Team All-State Shortstop, Perfect Game/

Rawlings Rawlings may refer to: *Rawlings (company), a U.S. sports equipment company *Rawlings, Maryland, an unincorporated community in Allegany County, Maryland *Rawlings (surname) Rawlings is an English-language surname. Notable people with the name in ...

2018 honorable mention All American and 1st Team Northeast All Region. He finished his high school baseball career as Delaware's all-time leader in runs scored (103) and stolen bases (81-for-81), and second in career hits (105), and was a two-time

Henlopen Conference The Henlopen Conference is a high school sports conference comprising public schools in Kent County and Sussex County in lower Delaware. The teams participate in a variety of sports including football, boys and girls soccer, track and field, cr ...

Player of Year as a shortstop and a pitcher. He also played soccer for the high school, and finished his career as the leading goal scorer in the State of Delaware for his four-year career span 2015-18 (61 goals; 16 assists), and was four-time All-Conference, three-time All-State, and as a senior was named Conference Player of the Year. He graduated with a 4.02

GPA Grading in education is the application of standardized measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentages, or as num ...

. He was selected in the 38th round of the

2018 Major League Baseball draft The 2018 Major League Baseball draft began on June 4, 2018. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was determined based on the reverse order of the 2017 MLB season final standings. In addition, compensation pi ...

by the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

, but Gelof opted not to sign with the team. During the summer after his senior year Gelof played

summer collegiate baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

for the Brockton Rox of the

Futures Collegiate Baseball League The Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL) is a collegiate summer baseball league that began play in 2011. Entering the 2025 season, the league has two active franchises in Massachusetts, two in Connecticut, and one each in New Hampshire and ...

, and played third base. He batted .292/.370/.403 with 9 doubles (10th in the league), 4 triples (3rd), and 13 stolen bases (9th) in 15 attempts.

College

Gelof played

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) for three seasons, starting every game the team played, and batting .316/.396/.478 in 137 games. As a freshman in 2019, he started all 56 games at third base and batted .313/.377/.396 with 16 stolen bases (10th in the ACC) in 19 attempts, and six sacrifice flies (3rd). He then played for the 2019

Kalamazoo Growlers The Kalamazoo Growlers are a baseball team based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that plays in the Northwoods League, a summer collegiate baseball league. The Growlers were founded in 2013 and played their first game on May 28, 2014, losing to the then ...

in the collegiate summer

Northwoods League The Northwoods League is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league. All players in the league must have National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. The league is amateur, and players are not ...

, and batted .349/.426/.490 with three triples (6th in the league) and 22 steals (9th) in 24 attempts, while playing 26 games at third base and two games at shortstop. As a sophomore in 2020, Gelof batted .349/.469/.746 (leading the ACC) with 24 runs scored (leading the ACC; 4th in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

), six doubles (7th), two triples (4th), five home runs (6th), 18 RBIs (8th), and 13 walks (10th) in 18 games at third base before the season was cut short due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He was named a ''

Collegiate Baseball ''Collegiate Baseball Newspaper'' (also known as ''Collegiate Baseball Magazine'' and ''Collegiate Baseball'') was an American publication based in Arizona that considered itself the "voice of amateur baseball" and was published for over 40 yea ...

'' Second Team All-American, and the third-best third baseman in D1Baseball’s 2020 Top-30 Power Rankings. He played for the High Point-Thomasville HiToms of the collegiate summer

Coastal Plain League The Coastal Plain League (CPL) is a wood-bat collegiate summer baseball league, featuring college players recruited from throughout the nation. The league takes its name from the Class D level Coastal Plain League which operated in the area f ...

after the season, batting .364/.442/.636. Gelof was named both ''Collegiate Baseball'' and

NCBWA 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 30 teams in the na ...

2021 First Team Preseason All-American, and both ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' (BA) is a sports publication company that covers baseball at every level, including Major League Baseball (MLB), with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) college, high school, and inte ...

'' and Perfect Game Second Team Preseason All-American, as well as the D1Baseball No. 5 preseason third baseman. As a junior in 2021 Gelof batted .312/.393/.485 and led the ACC in hits (81), as he also had 50 runs (7th), 18 doubles (4th), 126 total bases (6th), and 12 stolen bases in 13 attempts. He was named second team All-ACC. Virginia played in the

2021 College World Series The 2021 College World Series was the final stage of the 2021 NCAA Division I baseball tournament held from June 19–30 at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. This marked the 74th edition of the College World Series and 71st time the event is being held ...

, and he was named the third baseman on the All-Tournament Team after hitting .583.

Professional career

2021

Gelof was selected in the second round of the

2021 Major League Baseball draft The 2021 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was s ...

by the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

. As the 60th pick overall, he was the sixth-highest draft pick in Delaware history. He signed with the team on July 24, 2021, and received a $1,157,400

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

. In 2021 Gelof was assigned to the

Rookie-level Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National L ...

Arizona Complex League Athletics The Arizona Complex League Athletics are a Minor League Baseball team based in Mesa, Arizona, which plays as a Rookie-level team in the Arizona Complex League and has served as a farm team for the Athletics organization since 1988. They play thei ...

to start his professional career, where he played in one game. He was then promoted to the

Low-A Single-A, formerly known as Class A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A, Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams classified at the Single-A level, one for ...

Stockton Ports The Stockton Ports are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Athletics. They are located in Stockton, California, and are named for the city's seaport. The team plays its home games at Banner I ...

, for whom he batted .298/.393/.548. He finished the season with the

Las Vegas Aviators The Las Vegas Aviators, formerly known as the Las Vegas 51s and Las Vegas Stars, are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Athletics. They are located in Summerlin South, Nevada, a comm ...

of the

Triple-A West The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Base ...

, where while nearly six years younger than the average player in the league and only two months after playing college baseball, he batted 7-for-12 with 6 RBIs. With the three teams combined, in 2021 he batted .333/.422/.565 in 138 at bats with seven home runs and 13 stolen bases in 15 attempts, while playing third base. MLB.com ranked him as the A's 7th-best prospect, and the 87th-best prospect in baseball, and Fangraphs ranked him as the club's 2nd-best prospect.

2022

In 2022 Gelof ran the fastest 30-yard sprint in the A’s farm system in the spring. He missed almost seven weeks with a

torn labrum Labrum Latin, defined as "having the edge" * Labrum (architecture), a large water-filled vessel or basin with an overhanging lip * Labrum (arthropod mouthpart), a flap-like structure in front of the mouth in almost all extant Euarthropoda * Bron ...

and subluxed left (non-throwing) shoulder suffered in May when he dove for a

ground ball In the sports of baseball and softball, a batted ball is a pitch that has been contacted by the batter's bat. Batted balls are either fair or foul, and can be characterized as a fly ball, pop-up, line drive, or ground ball. In baseball, a fou ...

, but playing for the

Midland RockHounds The Midland RockHounds are a Minor League Baseball team based in Midland, Texas. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Athletics major league club. The RockHounds play in Momentum Bank Ballpark, which ope ...

of the Double–A

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

he hit .271/.356/.438 with 13 home runs and nine stolen bases in 11 attempts in 354 at bats over 83 games. He played 53 games at second base, 26 games at third base, seven games at DH, and one game in center field. MLB.com ranked him the #97 prospect in baseball, and the A's #4 prospect. He then played nine games at second base for the Triple–A

of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

. He slashed .257/.316/.714 with five home runs in 35 at bats. A’s assistant general manager Billy Owens said: "Zack Gelof is a dynamic athlete. He’s a plus, plus runner. He’s got serious strength. I see the plate discipline improving as he climbs the ladder. At some point, I see him also going to the outfield and using that dynamic athleticism all around the diamond." He played for the

Mesa Solar Sox The Mesa Solar Sox are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games in Mesa, Arizona, at Sloan Park, which is also the spring training facility of the Chicago Cubs. The team was establi ...

in the 2022

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled ...

2023

In 2023, Gelof played in

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

for the A's, batting .320/.414/.400. He started the season as the A's #3 prospect, playing for Triple–A Las Vegas. MLB.com reported on July 13, 2023, that it had been informed by a source that the 23-year-old Gelof was being called up to the A's. At the time, Gelof with Las Vegas was batting .304/.401/.529 in 263 at bats with 60 runs (6th in the Pacific Coast League), 21 doubles (3rd), 12 home runs, 44 RBIs, 20 stolen bases (5th) while being caught five times, and had played exclusively second base. The next day, Gelof was formally selected to the

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

and promoted to the major leagues for the first time, and he made his MLB debut for the A's on July 14. Gelof hit his first major league home run on July 22, 2023, against Ryne Stanek of the Houston Astros. On August 9, he becoming the fastest player in Oakland A's history to hit six home runs, doing so in his first 22 games. On August 13, he became the fourth Oakland rookie to have four hits and two home runs in one game since the team moved to Oakland in 1968. He became the first player in the Modern Era (since 1900) to hit at least eight home runs and steal at least six bases in his first 25 career games. On August 16, he became the first player in A’s history to have 20

extra-base hit In baseball, an extra-base hit (EB, EBH or XBH), also known as a long hit, is any hit (baseball), base hit on which the batting (baseball), batter is able to advance past first base without the benefit of a fielder either committing an error (base ...

s and 20 runs scored through his first 28 games. On August 24, he hit his 10th home run, doing so in his 35th major league game--making him the fastest A's player to reach 10 home runs in franchise history. His had 33 extra-base hits in his first 60 games, the most by any A’s player in franchise history. He was named the American League Rookie of the Month for August. In 2023 with the A's, Gelof batted .267/.337/.504 in 270 at bats, with 40 runs, 20 doubles, 14 home runs, 32 RBIs, and 14 stolen bases in 16 attempts. He played 69 games, all starts at second base. Among MLB rookies with 300 or more

plate appearance In baseball, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner. This ha ...

s, he had the third-highest isolated power (.237) and

line drive In the sports of baseball and softball, a batted ball is a pitch that has been contacted by the batter's bat. Batted balls are either fair or foul, and can be characterized as a fly ball, pop-up, line drive, or ground ball. In baseball, a fou ...

percentage (25.5%), the fifth-highest slugging percentage, and the sixth-highest

OPS OPS may refer to: Organizations * Obscene Publications Squad, a former unit of the Metropolitan Police in London, England * Oceanic Preservation Society * Office of Public Safety, a former US government agency * Orchestre philharmonique de Strasb ...

(.840) and

WAR War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

(2.9). He was one of five rookies in A's history to have at least 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases in a season, his .504 slugging percentage was sixth best in Oakland history among rookies with 250 or more plate appearances, and his 35 extra base hits were the most in team history by a player over the first 69 games of his career."Zack Gelof,"
mlb.com. He was named an A’s Organization All-Star by MLB.com following the season. Gelof earned $388,000 from the MLB pre-arbitration bonus pool allocated for players with between 0-3 years of service time, who played on league-minimum contracts, and who were paid significantly less than their 2023 on-field production would warrant.

2024

In January 2024, MLB.com ranked Gelof the 9th-best second baseman in the major leagues. In 2024 with the A's, Gelof batted .211/.270/.362 in 497 at-bats, with 60 runs, 20 doubles, 17 home runs, 49 RBI, three sacrifice hits (9th in the AL), and 25 stolen bases (8th) in 28 attempts (his 89.29% stolen base percentage was 9th in the league), with a 20.2 power-speed number (9th), and led the AL with 188 strikeouts and in strikeout percentage (34.4%). He played 138 games, all at second base, and led all AL second basemen in putouts (264), range factor/game (4.32), and range factor/9 innings (4.43), as he was second in double plays turned (92) and third in assists (332) and fielding percentage (.988). Gelof earned $740,000 in salary.

2025

On March 23, 2025, it was announced that Gelof would miss the beginning of the season as the result of a

hamate bone The hamate bone (from Latin hamatus, "hooked"), or unciform bone (from Latin '' uncus'', "hook"), Latin os hamatum and occasionally abbreviated as just hamatum, is a bone in the human wrist readily distinguishable by its wedge shape and a hook- ...

fracture that required surgery.

International career

Gelof played second base for Team Israel in the

, in which Team Israel went 1-3 and was eliminated in group play.

Gelof Brothers Foundation

In November 2023, Gelof and his brother created the Gelof Brothers Foundation. Its mission is to provide resources and assistance to support the development of youth. That month they hosted an inaugural youth sports camp for children ages 8-13 at Cape Henlopen High School in

Lewes, Delaware Lewes ( ) is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 3,303. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Del ...

References

External links

Virginia Cavaliers bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gelof, Zack 1999 births Living people Jewish American baseball players People from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Baseball players from Sussex County, Delaware Major League Baseball second basemen Oakland Athletics players Virginia Cavaliers baseball players Brockton Rox players (FCBL) High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms players Arizona Complex League Athletics players Stockton Ports players Las Vegas Aviators players Midland RockHounds players Mesa Solar Sox players 2023 World Baseball Classic players Jews from Delaware Athletics (baseball) players