2025 Fantasy Baseball: Zack Gelof Profile, Preview, Predictions
In this story:
Many drafters this season will run and hide from Zack Gelof due to his high whiff rate and underperformance in his sophomore season with the A's.
Zack Gelof with the 9,000th home run in Oakland #Athletics history 👏 pic.twitter.com/T9GU7HLgbw
— Athletics (@Athletics) June 30, 2024
2B – Zack Gelof, ATH (ADP – 212.5)
After a productive half-season with Oakland (.267/40/14/32/14 over 270 at-bats), Gelof had a much weaker approach strikeout rate (34.4) and walk rate (7.0) last season. In addition, his contact batting average (.340) was below 2023 (.340) and his minor league career (.422). With runners on base, Gelof has a disaster RBI rate (10). On the positive side, his average hit rate (1.714) was high enough to support 25 home runs if he had more balls in play.
Gelof hit .196 over his first 92 at-bats with 11 runs, three home runs, seven home runs, and four stolen bases while striking out 33 times. He missed the following three weeks with an oblique issue. His bat was more productive in May and June (24/10/24/7 over 164 at-bats) despite hitting .207. Gelof ran more over the final two months (13 steals) with an uptick in batting average (.242), but he only had four home runs and 14 RBIs over 182 at-bats.
Left-handed pitchers held him to a .138 batting average with 13 runs, two home runs, six RBIs, and five stolen bases over 109 at-bats. Gelof had similar struggles in 2023 (.168/6/1/23 over 72 at-bats with 28 strikeouts). His HR/FB rate (14.4) was well below 2023 (22.2%) and minor league career. Gelof also lost his line drive swing path (19.6% - 25.5 in 2023).
Fantasy Outlook: The top attraction in him is his ability to offer a high contact batting average, and his minor strikeout rate (27.0) suggests a rebound in approach in 2025. On the downside, Gelof doesn’t belong in the lineup against lefties at this point in his career.
He profiles as a 25/30 player with 550 at-bats, but there is some playing time concern due to Luis Urias now on the A’s roster (.264 vs. lefties with 66 runs, 17 home runs, 56 RBIs, and two steals over 420 at-bats). I don’t view Gelof as a lock to kill a fantasy team in batting average, and at some point, his right-handed bat should improve against left-handed pitching (.326 with 10 home runs over 89 at-bats in 2022 in the minors).
RANKINGS
Top 5 Catchers | Catchers 6-10 | Catchers 11-15
Top 5 First Basemen | First Basemen 6-10 | First Basemen 11-15
Top 5 Second Basemen | Second Basemen 6-10 | Second Basemen 11-15
Top 5 Shortstops | Shortstops 6-10 | Shortstops 11-15
Top 5 Third Basemen | Third Basemen 6-10 | Third Basemen 11-15
With 20+ years of experience in the high-stakes fantasy market, I aim to research and compete at the highest level in baseball and football each season. I've contributed as a writer/analyst for Sports Draft Daily, ScoutPro, Scout Fantasy, Fulltime Fantasy, FFToolbox, and Sports Illustrated Fantasy. I'm honored to be in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Hall of Fame. My drafting philosophy is risk-averse yet open to betting on potential game-changers. I approach player selection with a neutral perspective, acknowledging that fantasy sports are inherently unpredictable due to injuries, performance dips, and managerial decisions. My work focuses on these main areas: - Season-long fantasy baseball and football - BestBall Baseball and Football Events - Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog - Long Shot Player Prop Parlays for NFL I participate in various leagues and contests, including NFBC, NFFC, RTSports, FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, FanDuel, and FFWC, with the goal of leveraging my extensive experience and research for success in each game format. A fantasy follower can expect in-depth profiles of NFL and MLB players, along with season-long and weekly projections for each fantasy football season. In addition, I have many strategy articles to help develop fantasy players' learning curves.
Follow Shawn__Childs