The Athletics are calling up outfield prospect Henry Bolte, as first reported by Terrel Emerson. He’s not on the 40-man roster, but the A’s have a vacancy there, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding 26-man roster move when they formally select Bolte’s contract.
A 2022 second-round pick, Bolte is the hottest-hitting prospect in baseball at the moment. He recently rattled off hits in 12 consecutive plate appearances (video link) and is sitting on a .348/.418/.658 batting line (157 wRC+) with a dozen homers, seven doubles, three triples, 17 steals (in 19 tries), a 9.6% walk rate and a 22% strikeout rate in 177 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s averaging 90.4 mph off the bat to go along with a strong 43% hard-hit rate.
The A’s young outfield has impressed in recent seasons, but both Tyler Soderstrom and Lawrence Butler have fallen short of expectations thus far. Soderstrom is hitting .207/.293/.407. Butler is at just .179/.278/.282 on the season. Both players have been plagued by BABIP marks that are about 60 points shy of league average despite quality batted-ball profiles. Soderstrom and Butler are both averaging better than 90 mph off the bat with a hard-hit rate just over 48%. They’re also both walking in at least 11% of their plate appearances. Both stand as candidates for positive regression based on the strength of their contact.
Soderstrom and Butler typically man the outfield corners. However, center fielder Denzel Clarke has been out of action for a few weeks due to a bone bruise in his left foot, which has given Butler some time in center. The A’s have also given former second baseman Zack Gelof some run in center, and he’s hit well in the new role, batting .274/.328/.484 in a small sample of 69 plate appearances. His batted-ball fortune is on the other end of the spectrum, about 50 points higher than league average, at .341. In all likelihood, his slash stats will come down a bit, but Gelof is still enjoying his most productive stretch since 2023.
It’s not fully clear how the outfield mix will be tweaked to accommodate Bolte. He’s played primarily center field. The A’s aren’t calling him up to sit on the bench in a backup role, so it seems like Bolte will handle center field regularly. Soderstrom and Butler could play full-time corner roles, with Gelof perhaps mixing in across all three spots in addition to work at second base and third base. It might be natural to think he could platoon in right field with the lefty-swinging Butler, who’s just a career .221/.262/.378 hitter versus lefties, but the righty-swinging Gelof has been even worse against lefties in his own career: .157/.238/.252.
However it shakes out, Bolte is likely going to play every day. He’s ranked fifth among A’s prospects at MLB.com, seventh at Baseball America and tenth at FanGraphs. Bolte topped the latest Prospect Hot Sheet at Baseball America, where J.J. Cooper noted that he’s still a bit too prone to getting beaten in the zone but has developing power and can absolutely punish in-zone mistakes.
There’s not enough time left in the season for Bolte to accrue a full year of major league service, so even if he sticks from here on out, he’ll be controllable six more years beyond the current season. The May timing of his promotion means he’ll qualify as a Super Two player if he stays up for good, making him eligible for arbitration four times rather than the standard three. Then again, if Bolte hits the ground running, the A’s could always look to render that Super Two trajectory moot by signing him long term, as they’ve done with Soderstrom, Butler, shortstop Jacob Wilson and designated hitter Brent Rooker over the past couple years.
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