A's Zack Gelof Could be Activated For Weekend Series Against San Francisco Giants

Athletics manager Mark Kotsay recently told reporters that the team's second baseman, Zack Gelof, could be making his long-awaited season debut this weekend against the San Francisco Giants. Late in camp he injured his hamate and needed surgery, and on the rehab assignment from that injury ended up with a stress reaction in his ribs that prolonged his time on the IL.

Gelof has been on his current rehab assignment since June 17 down in Triple-A Las Vegas, as the club was giving him a full spring training's worth of at-bats to get him ready. After playing in Wednesday's game with Vegas, Gelof has racked up a total of 34 at-bats, going 9-for-34, good for a .265 batting average.

The reason that he may be deemed ready, however, is because he has been drawing walks like a madman. While he has 34 at-bats, he has also drawn 15 walks across 11 games while striking out nine times. Granted, this is against minor-league pitching, but it's a testament that he's seeing the ball well and that he's more likely than ready to face some big leaguers.

With those 15 walks, he has a .490 on-base percentage over this rehab assignment, thanks to a 30.6% walk rate. It's unlikely that he keeps the free passes coming at such a rate, but it's still a good sign for when he does return. Of the nine hits he's recorded, one was a home run while he added another three doubles to the ledger as well. Batting at the top of the order, he scored 14 runs.

With Gelof set to return shortly, the next question that will be asked is how he'll fit on the roster. Luis Urías has been the team's regular second baseman since late April, getting some days off here and there, but being slotted in at the keystone most days. He also left Wednesday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays with what was reported as right hamstring soreness.

Martín Gallegos of MLB.com reported after the game that manager Mark Kotsay doesn't believe that Urías' injury would be something that will land him on the IL, though they'd send him in for testing on Thursday's off-day, and have a better idea of the severity of the injury on Friday.

While Gelof is on his way back to the main roster, he may still need some days off, given that he still hasn't been playing back-to-back games terribly often. They're going to have to continue to build him up. Having a healthy Urías on board would be helpful in that regard.

While Gelof is on the 60-day IL and will need to be added back to the 40-man roster, after the team released Seth Brown and T.J. McFarland, their roster had been at 38 until they called up outfield prospect Colby Thomas. Now it sits at 39, so there is no need to make a 40-man subtraction to get Gelof back in there.

Who ends up as the odd-man out on the A's 26-man roster is the real question. The determining factor could be if they want to attempt to trade a veteran infielder like Urías or Gio Urshela, which would keep them on the roster until a deal is reached, or if they feel like they could designate one of them for assignment. The likely option of the two would be Urshela, who has started just four of 15 games since returning from the IL.

The other option would be to send down one of the young guys, like Thomas, to wait for a roster spot to open back up.