Rehoboth Beach resident Jake Gelof has frequently equaled the accomplishments of older brother Zack on the baseball field and it happened again Sunday night.
Jake was chosen 60th overall in the Major League Baseball draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers, just two years after Zack was selected 60th by the Oakland Athletics.
The Gelofs’ dad, Adam, tweeted a photo of Jake wearing Dodger blue as a 9-year-old Little Leaguer, writing “You drafted an intensely motivated young man that is gonna do everything in his power to show Dodgers fans how bad he wants to help them win games.”
He added Jake hit his first of many home runs in that uniform.Now Jake will attempt to repeat Zack’s rapid climb in professional baseball, as Zack is on the cusp of making the majors while batting .304 with 12 homers as starting second baseman for the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators.
Jake Gelof is a 6-foot-1, 195-pound power-hitting third baseman who was ranked 35th on MLB.com’s pre-draft prospect list.
He smashed the University of Virginia career home-run record by swatting 48, including 23 this season. Gelof batted .329 in his Cavaliers career with a .429 on-base percentage and slugged .683. His 186 RBI are also the school career mark.
Zack also starred at Virginia.
Gelof started for Cape Henlopen’s 2018 state championship team as a sophomore, contributing a two-run single in the 5-3 title win over Caravel. His 10th-inning single scored the decisive run in a 6-5 semifinal victory over Dover in which Gelof had four of Cape’s 11 hits, including a single that scored brother Zack, and was winning pitcher in relief.
Gelof then transferred to IMG Academy in Florida for his last two years of high school. Now he’s off to the Dodgers’ farm system after his stellar college career.
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