Statcast Stat Of The Week: Zack Gelof Saves The Best For Last

The nomad (or Sacramento) Athletics hosted the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday afternoon for the finale of a three-game intradivisional series. The Mariners won the getaway game by a score of 9-1, so it wasn’t a particularly compelling game to watch unless you rostered Logan Gilbert or Julio Rodriguez this year. But in the bottom of the ninth inning of this blowout, one interesting thing happened that everyone surely overlooked.

With two outs and no one on base, Zack Gelof ripped a single off of reliever Cooper Criswell. Normally, this wouldn’t even be worthy of a footnote (hey, an extra point of batting average!), except for the fact that this is ALWAYS what Zack Gelof does this month. If it’s late in a game in May 2026, there is an argument to be made that there is no other player you want coming to bat to extend your inning than Gelof.

Late in the Game, Zack Gelof is Babe Ruth

What’s so special about second baseman Zack Gelof late in games? Let’s turn to Statcast to break down the numbers for us. Using the Statcast Search function, we can segment all different kinds of game situations for 2026. The one that caught my eye this week was the list of players who are the best offensive performers in late-game situations recently.

First, let’s look at opportunity. Between May 12th and May 26th, only one other player had more plate appearances than Gelof’s 24 in late-game situations (seventh, eighth, ninth, or extra innings). His 24 trailed only Washington’s Daylen Lile (25). In those 24 plate appearances, Gelof hit .333 with a .708 slugging percentage, including three home runs and eight hits.

His .448 wOBA in that span trailed only JJ Bleday and James Wood among players with at least 20 plate appearances in late-game situations during that span. James Wood was also the only player who had a higher hard-hit rate than Gelof during those plate appearances. Gelof’s hard-hit rate was 66.7%. To put that in context, the league leader in hard-hit rate in 2025 was Kyle Schwarber with 59.6%. Gelof is essentially hitting the ball harder than a player who hit 56 home runs last season.

And just in case you think Gelof is doing all this in blowouts, think again. He has a slugging percentage of .500 when the tying or go-ahead run is on base or up to bat in these situations as well.

Gelof Isn’t Just Feasting on Meatballs

Well, you might say, it’s probably easy to get a hit when a lower-tier reliever is just throwing strikes down the middle in a 9-1 game, as Cooper Criswell did on Wednesday. Except that’s not what has been happening at all. In fact, when you examine Gelof’s pitch chart over those 24 late-game plate appearances, the vast majority of pitches have been away or low and away.

As this chart shows, only 14 of the 93 pitches he has seen in these situations have been middle-up, middle-middle, or middle-low. Forty-six of them have been away or down and away. Has Gelof had trouble with these pitches that are thrown to try to entice him to chase and get a whiff? Absolutely not. Here is his performance on these pitches from the perspective of his batting average throughout the zone.

Look back at where the pitch was from Criswell on Wednesday afternoon. Look familiar? Gelof has been mashing balls in the middle and also balls that have come away or down and away. Whether it’s just Gelof rising to meet the pressure or getting more and more comfortable as the season goes along, it’s clear he has tremendous confidence and patience at the plate late in games.

Can Gelof’s Late-Game Success Continue?

Zack Gelof has had quite the career since he first debuted in 2023. That year, he burst onto the scene with a .267/.337/.504 line with 14 home runs and 14 steals in 300 plate appearances as a 23-year-old. The next season, he regressed on the ratios (.211/.270/.362), but had 17 home runs and 25 steals in 138 games. With a 34% strikeout rate, the warning signs were there in 2024, and he bottomed out due to injuries and poor plate management in 2025.

Last year, he only played 30 games and hit .174/.230/.272 with a 45.5% strikeout rate. Now fully healthy in 2026, Gelof is hitting .238/.290/.426 overall with six homers, six steals, and a much-improved 24.8% strikeout rate.

The late-game heroics are clearly a result of small sample bias, and Gelof isn’t going to slug .708 the rest of the way. But we can take solace in the fact that he is improving overall, and we shouldn’t see stats as we did in 2024-2025.

Gelof’s hard-hit rate and exit velocity are both better than his career averages. His max exit velocity is better than his injury-plagued year in 2025. And his line drive rate and home run per flyball rate are both way up over last season.

While his late-game heroics might be somewhat fluky, don’t discount the confidence he is getting from the sheer amount of improvement over 2025. Gelof showed in 2023 that he is a force to be reckoned with at the plate and on the basepaths, and he is headed back in the right direction in 2026.