Zack Gelof's Mental Grind on the Road to Back to A's Roster

In 2023, Zack Gelof and Tyler Soderstrom were called up for the Athletics first game out of the All Star break, and Gelof soared, arguably becoming the face of the franchise, while Soderstrom struggled. Last season, those roles didn't exactly reverse, but Soderstrom certainly showed some glimpses of his potential while Gelof struggled mightily.

The A's second baseman ended up hitting just .211 with a .270 on-base percentage, collecting 17 home runs and 25 stolen bases. It was certainly below the standard that the 25-year-old had set for himself. When Athletics on SI spoke with Gelof towards the end of last season, he said that he was going to begin training just a few weeks after the final game, before the World Series had ended.

This year he came to camp and was producing fairly well, batting .297 with a .395 OBP, but his strikeout rate was still a bit high at 37.2%. It was unclear which version of Gelof we'd see in 2025.

Then, about a week before the season began, Gelof broke the hamate bone in his right hand and has been on the IL for the entirety of the 2025 campaign to date.

After weeks of rehabbing, he's now expected to go out on a rehab assignment early this week, which will last for at least 35 at-bats, according to A's manager Mark Kotsay. The A's also plan to ease him into things, having him play for a couple of days, then get a day off initially. Given the benchmark of 35 at-bats, he could be back in around two weeks.

After struggling last season, putting in the work to hit the ground running in 2025, and then suffering a setback so close to Opening Day, we talked with him about how's he's been holding up these past few weeks.

"Mentally it was tough. But then after two days I was getting surgery, so it was kind of a whirlwind of I needed to pack everything up in my Airbnb, get out of there, and then get surgery. It's tough, but I mean it's part of the game too. Like it wasn't a muscle, it wasn't anything that I feel like I could control, it's just part of the game. I think that helped a little bit mentally."

Even with the injury feeling like it was out of his control, he's still going a little crazy because he just wants to get back out on the field.

With Gelof on the IL to begin the season, it was another top prospect, Max Muncy, that ended up getting the call at second base to begin the year. We asked him how he balanced seeing someone else at his spot, especially after his 2024 season, knowing that's where he should be playing.

"I think it's a 'high tide floats all boats' type of thing. No matter what he did, I know I have a spot on the team, because I feel like I bring something to the team. I wasn't self conscious about anything. I wanted nothing but the best for him.

"I know that him getting sent down does not change anything about how I feel like we as a team view him, and then also as an organization, he's part of the process of us going [towards] winning. Pennants, hopefully. It's just more, like, I wanted to be out there, regardless of who [at second], but when he was out there, it's nothing but wishing for success."

He also mentioned that when he was drafted in 2021, Max Muncy was in the same class as him, so when they went to pro ball that was his roommate, and his first best friend in the minor leagues.

At one point when speaking about the A's, his teammates, he said "they're," and then quickly corrected himself to say "we." He admitted that he felt a disconnect from the club early on in his recovery process, especially when he was in a cast, because it seemed as though his return was still so far away, and the team was on the road.

"It's tough because it's "we," like I still feel like I help even when I'm not playing. It's definitely tough, because when you see a team, like when you see us playing on TV, and I'm at home laying on the couch, I'm like "oh, they're doing great!" I don't want to get used to saying that."

If all goes well on his rehab assignment, Gelof will be back with the "we" crowd before long.