Henry

Bolte

Bolte is certainly heating up. Two more knocks here means he’s had at least one hit in 13 of 17 games in August with a .338 average over that span. He’s also hit lead-off in four of five games and has the type of everyday role, raw tools, and home ballpark that we look for when trying to find lightning in a bottle this time of year.

Bolte’s homer off MacKenzie Gore gave the A’s all of their runs this evening. He’s back up to .261/.334/.368, which certainly isn’t great but is still impressive for someone who strikes out or hits grounders two-thirds of the time.

Bolte was hitless through his first four at-bats before giving the A’s an insurance run with a solo blast in the ninth. His fifth home run of the season left the bat at 111.5 mph and traveled an impressive 439 feet. The 23-year-old outfielder is hitting .253/.332/.350 with 25 runs scored, 22 RBI, and 13 steals across 270 plate appearances.

Bolte went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts out of the leadoff spot against Red Sox southpaw Payton Tolle. In his defense, Tolle finished with 14 strikeouts in a dominant performance. He’ll continue to get opportunities against left-handers, which is the case in this one with Jake Bennett taking the ball for Boston, with Lawrence Butler handling the top spot against right-handers.

Bolte is 6-for-11 with a homer and a double in three games this month. Maybe he’ll start working his way back up the lineup at this rate.

Bolte’s homer was a three-run shot that cut the Tigers’ lead in half to 8-5. The 22-year-old also doubled and singled in one of his best games an MLB player thus far. The power production has been middle in his .350 slugging percentage, but a .257 average and .340 on-base percentage to pair with it is nothing to sneeze at.

Bolte has been a fixture in center field since his arrival in the big leagues, so he’ll get a hard-earned day off in this one. Lawrence Butler will slide over to take his place in center with Carlos Cortes starting in right field and batting eighth for the A’s against Sonny Gray and the Red Sox on Thursday evening in West Sacramento.

Bolte is down to .243/.320/.322 with his groundball-heavy ways. We’d just as soon see the A’s stick with him the rest of the way, but if they get Denzel Clarke back next month, Bolte might receive some more Triple-A time. Ideally, that would come with some instruction on how to lift the ball more than one-third of the time. He needs to cut back on the strikeouts some, too, but that’s not the primary problem.

The rookie has struggled of late, slashing .140/.189/.220 in his last 15 games with a 15/1 K/BB ratio. He’s been mostly solid in his first MLB season, but there remains a chance that the A’s could move Zack Gelof back to the outfield when he returns from his knee injury and keep Tommy White active in the infield. Bolte’s playing time does not seem as guaranteed as it was a few weeks ago.

Bolte came to the dish with runners at the corners and one out in the first inning and hit a slow bouncer to first base that the Tigers were unable to turn the double play on, plating Jacob Wilson in the process. The rookie outfielder also made a couple of terrific catches in center field in the contest. At the dish, he’s hitting .274/.354/.363 with three homers, 16 RBI and 11 stolen bases in 193 plate appearances.