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Happy Monday, Athletics Nation!
The A’s have been bringing the thunder lately. They’re fresh off a series win in Houston that was aided by Skye Bolt, who went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI in the A’s series opening win against the Astros on Friday. He had a nice little four-game hitting streak going before yesterday’s game, which he left early after taking a pitch to the hand.
From earlier, here's the pitch that got Skye Bolt in the right hand and caused him to eventually leave the game.
— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) July 17, 2022
He was 7-for-19 with 2 HR and 4 RBI his previous 6 games, putting together his first MLB momentum in several career call-ups since 2019pic.twitter.com/qjl1gzr1eU
It’s probably pure coincidence that the A’s rode the lightning yesterday with their second 2022 draft pick, selecting Palo Alto High School outfielder Henry Bolte as the 56th overall pick.
We’ll have to wait awhile to see how young Bolte pans out, but as Matt Kawahara at the San Francisco Chronicle detailed yesterday, the 28-year-old Bolt is making good on his latest big league opportunity after failing to gain traction in previous callups and alienating some fans with a controversial mistweet last year.
Bolt has been consistently great in 152 career games for the AAA Las Vegas Aviators with a .317 average and .945 OPS. Unfortunately, he’s fallen far short of such success in his sporadic MLB stints since 2019:
Bolt, 2019-22 MLB: .140/.171/.243, 14 wRC+, 107 AB, 3 HR, 4 SB, 3.5% BB, 26.5% Ks
Bolt came off the injured list on June 30 and got off to a slow 2-for-22 start, but in five games preceding Sunday’s early exit, he went 6-for-15 with two home runs, including a 425-foot bomb to left center off Astros reliever Seth Martinez on Friday.
As Bolt’s confidence grows, so does that of teammates like Chad Pinder, who said, “I think Skye’s a guy that definitely can establish himself as a big-league, everyday guy.”
I’m sure that many of you are as anxious as I am to see Cristian Pache back with the big league club, but Ramón Laureano is the only current A’s outfielder with an everyday spot solidly locked down. So regardless of Pache’s status, there is definitely room for Bolt if he can keep up his momentum—but first we’ll have to hope this latest injury doesn’t prove too great a setback. Fingers crossed!
A’s Coverage:
- Hall: MLB Draft 2022: Oakland A’s select Daniel Susac with No. 19 overall pick
- Hall: MLB Draft 2022: Oakland A’s select Henry Bolte with No. 56 overall pick
- Hall: MLB Draft 2022: Oakland A’s select Clark Elliott with No. 69 overall pick
- Schmidt: Game #93: A’s rally past Astros 4-3, enter ASG break with a series win
- Hall: Shea Langeliers homer, Denzel Clarke catch help AL win 2022 All-Star Futures Game
- Hall: Game #92: A’s shut down by Verlander, shut out 5-0 by Astros
- Shea: Mulling trades, top stories, award favorites for Giants, A’s and MLB at break ($)
- Kawahara: A’s outfielder Skye Bolt getting a shot at regular role ($)
- Kroichick: Las Vegas baseball makes sense, but lacks soul and character of A’s in Oakland ($)
- Frommer: What was behind Richard Nixon going to bat for A’s ace Vida Blue? ($)
- Kawahara: A’s Adam Oller savors ‘dream come true’ of pitching in Houston ($)
- Polishuk: Injury Notes: Montas, Brantley, Eflin, Springs, Beeks, May
MLB News & Interest:
- Polishuk: 2022 MLB Draft, First Round Results
- Zencka: Nationals To Entertain Trade Offers For Juan Soto After He Rejects $440MM Offer
- Polishuk: List Of All-Star Roster Replacements
- McCullough: Juan Soto trade sweepstakes: What these 10 teams can offer the Nationals ($)
- McDonald: Chris Sale Exits Start With Apparent Hand Injury
- Wagner: ‘He’s Built for New York’ ($)
- Law: Law’s MLB Futures Game takeaways: Pitchers steal the show despite high score ($)
- Woo: Albert Pujols on his final season so far: ‘The second half is going to be much better’ ($)
- Polishuk: Red Sox Place Trevor Story On 10-Day Injured List
- Today in Baseball History
Best of Twitter:
The Blackburn family will be well represented in L.A.
Paul Blackburn said he'll have about 20 family and friends with him at the All-Star Game. Said the only time he's been to Dodger Stadium was the 2020 playoff bubble. "It’ll be a little more crazy than it was with cardboard cutouts in the stands."
— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) July 17, 2022
Montas recovery update.
Frankie Montas responded “really well” to yesterday’s bullpen, still a possibility to start one of the DH games Thursday after the break, Kotsay said. A’s will likely call up a starter as the 27th man to start the other game vs. Detroit.
— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) July 17, 2022
Pache raking in AAA.
CF Cristian Pache is now batting .333 (15 for 45) with 2 HR, 7 doubles, 5 walks, 11 Ks & 9 RBIs and is slashing .333/.404/.622 through his first 11 games with Triple-A @AviatorsLV
— Athletics Farm (@AthleticsFarm) July 17, 2022
Roster moves.
A'S RECENT MOVES: RHP Adam Oller to A’s, LHP Jared Koenig to LV, RHP Jack Cushing to MID, LV C Shea Langeliers & LAN OF Denzel Clarke to temp inactive list, RHP Jacob Lemoine cleared waivers/sent to LV… https://t.co/joKXkzbDRy
— Athletics Farm (@AthleticsFarm) July 18, 2022
BTV getting some love from Jeff Passan!
Every team has an algorithm that assigns a dollar value to a player. These numbers from @BaseballValues are one example of those. Cannot imagine the Dodgers would do a deal like this. But it gives you a sense of just how much talent the Nationals would look to reap for Juan Soto. pic.twitter.com/53GknQWV4b
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 16, 2022
Classy gesture—the Astros have been acting like they want to be liked again lately.
.@vincebaseball just shared a cool nugget on radio, saying Astros offered Paul Blackburn a ride on their charter plane to the All-Star Game and he accepted. Houston is sending Altuve/Yordan/Tucker/Verlander/Framber
— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) July 17, 2022
Liam Hendriks added to the All-Star squad.
Three players have been added to the 2022 All-Star rosters, including @whitesox RHP Liam Hendriks, @BlueJays RHP Jordan Romano & @Brewers RHP Devin Williams. They replace Gerrit Cole of the @Yankees, Justin Verlander of the @astros & Max Fried of the @Braves (all inactive @ ASG). pic.twitter.com/D1XT7gKSUY
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) July 17, 2022
Juicy.
The pitch Maldonado hit for a grand slam: pic.twitter.com/xN19LVDkyn
— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) July 16, 2022
Sick burn!
And say hello to Oakland’s ‘Say Hey Kid’! https://t.co/4vOcIu5eEf pic.twitter.com/3aa0dJVDfp
— OaklandStadiumWatch (@OakStadiumWatch) July 16, 2022
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