Zack Gelof homers in win

Gelof put the Athletics ahead with a 393-foot blast to right-center field off Guardians opener Daniel Espino in the first inning. It was his 19th round-tripper of the season and wound up being the Athletics’ lone runs of the entire evening at Progressive Field. He went hitless in his final three at-bats, striking out twice during that span.

It’s the first time this year that Gelof has reached safely four times and the second time he’s scored three runs. Gelof homered in three straight games early this month, but even so, he came into this one hitting just .174/.262/.326 in his previous 24 games. He now has 18 homers in 99 games this year. That’s one more than he hit in 138 games two years ago.

Gelof has homered in three-straight games, and he hit the fourth and final homer of the third inning off Logan Gilbert to give the A’s a 5-2 lead. His homer was his 17th, and the triple was the second of the 2026 campaign. Gelof has looked the part as of late, and reminded why he was one of the top hitting prospects in baseball not all that long ago.

Gelof has two homers in three games since coming off the IL. His exit velocity numbers this season aren’t nearly as impressive as his .280/.331/.502 line, but the fantastic home ballpark has helped quite a bit; he’s hitting .321/.362/.593 with 10 homers at home and .222/.287/.374 with three homers on the road.

Soderstrom receives his first day off since July 12. The 24-year-old corner outfielder is hitting .258 (23-for-89) with five homers, 14 RBI and one steal in 23 games since last month’s All-Star break. It’ll be Zack Gelof taking over in left field with Carlos Cortes taking a turn at DH.

Gelof’s home run was his 12th of the year. He hit a solo shot off Freddy Peralta in the fifth inning. Gelof was eased into the lineup batting last in his first game after being activated from the IL. He’s hitting .277 with an .823 OPS and 31 RBI this year.

Gelof was putting together an extremely encouraging stretch before hitting the injured list with a right knee laceration back on July 10. He’s back after missing just over one month of action. The 26-year-old offers enough power and speed to be interesting for fantasy purposes when he’s in a groove at the dish, especially since he’s making much more contact of late. He’s hit .273/.327/.476 with 11 homers and eight steals in 247 plate appearances this season. There’s definitely some fantasy appeal in deeper mixed leagues down the home stretch.

Both of his hits were singles. We should also note that Gelof played center field in this one, which means he would likely return to the Athletics as an outfielder and could cut into playing time for Henry Bolte or Carlos Cortes, rather than take second base reps away from Donovan Walton.

Gelof has been out since July 9th after cutting his knee on the outfield fence while making a sliding catch. He began baseball activities a little over a week ago and is closing in on a return. He will likely need at least a week of games to get his timing back, but he could return to the Athletics’ lineup by the middle of August.

The rookie has struggled of late, slashing .140/.189/.220 in his last 15 games with a 15/1 K/BB ratio. He’s been mostly solid in his first MLB season, but there remains a chance that the A’s could move Zack Gelof back to the outfield when he returns from his knee injury and keep Tommy White active in the infield. Bolte’s playing time does not seem as guaranteed as it was a few weeks ago.