Athletics’ Zack Gelof wins Rookie of the Month for August

He might have been a shoe-in all this time but now it’s official. Oakland’s rookie second baseman Zack Gelof has earned Rookie of the Month honors for August:

Gelof, who came up immediately after the MLB All-Star break, has been on a tear since his promotion. In his first 14 games in the big leagues, he hit 3 home runs and slashed just .218/.283/.491. He was making hard contact when he made contact, but he stepped it up after his first couple of weeks.

Since then, Gelof has easily been one of the A’s best hitters, consistently finding himself in either the 2 or 3 hole in the lineup. In the month of August Gelof slashed .286/.350/.562, which would be incredible numbers to put up over a full season. He also swatted seven more home runs in August, becoming the fastest player in Athletics history (all of Ams history, including Philly and KC) to reach 10 home runs, surpassing Mark McGuire. On top of all of that he’s been a big contributor on defense and the base paths. He’s already at 11 steals just 41 games into his career.

His manager Mark Kotsay had some words to say about the huge honor that Gelof has earned:

And the man of the hour himself spoke about the award, and for Oakland fans you couldn’t ask for a better answer:

I think the A’s got a keeper on their hands. If you haven’t been watching A’s baseball in the past month+, check out this highlight reel of Gelof since he debuted for the Athletics:

Can’t wait to see what he does for an encore. And so excited to see him grow and succeed in the big leagues wearing an Athletics uniform. Congratulations Zack!