Zack Gelof in 200 words

     I've been facing the fact for a while now that I needed more material for the blog. I was thinking of doing player-bios in the off-season, which I thought would be fun, but when it comes down to it, I don't know that I'll be able or more likely willing to do it. Therefore, I figured I'd shorten it. The brief careers of my favorite players in 200 words, no more, no less. These will be using the word count format, so slash lines count as three whole words. Let's see how this goes....

    I'll only do this first mini-bio for now, and see how it goes down with the readers, and then progress to more in the off-season. I hope y'all enjoy!

    We'll start with the 200-word career of one of my favorites, Zack Gelof. 

    Zack Gelof was born October 19th, 1999 in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The second baseman was drafted in the second round of the 2021 MLB June Amateur Draft by the Oakland Athletics. Gelof played 203 minor league games from Rookie Ball through AAA, slashing .291/.379/.503 in that time with 38 homers and 142 RBIs, eventually earning himself a spot on the big-league club in July of 2023. He also played for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic that year. Gelof impressed in his initial 69 major league games, slashing .267/.337/.504 with 14 home runs and 14 stolen bases. He looked like a ray of hope for the Athletics going into 2024, and looked promising in Spring Training. However, an injury and a sophomore slump led to a disappointing campaign in which the second baseman hit .211 with 17 homers and 49 RBIs in 138 games, and a league-leading 188 strikeouts. I both hope and think that he has what it takes to turn things around next year, but he has to keep the strikeout rate down and stay healthy. He may also need time to adjust to a new field. As always, only time can tell.

    There we go, 200 words exactly. Hopefully as I go along the quality of writing will improve, and I will be able to include more personal things rather than just statistics. Moving forward I will keep it to just 200 words for the whole post, with no introductions or conclusions at the end.

    Let me know what y'all thought of this one, and, as always, have a great rest of your week, happy collecting, and good luck to your playoff squad.