The Athletics are promoting outfield prospect Skye Bolt for his big league debut this weekend, as first reported by AthleticsFarm.com (on Twitter). He’ll step into the roster spot of Ryan Dull, who was optioned to Triple-A following yesterday’s game. Oakland spent its recent series against the Red Sox operating with a two-man bench, so the addition of Bolt will give the club some much needed flexibility on the position-player side of the roster. A fourth-round pick in 2015, the switch-hitting Bolt is batting .325/.400/.675 with six homers and three steals through 90 plate appearances in Triple-A Las Vegas so far in the season. Despite his 80-grade name and strong start to the year, Bolt is regarded as more of a fourth outfield type than a potential outfield cornerstone in Oakland. He ranks 17th among A’s prospects at Fangraphs and 19th at both MLB.com and Baseball America. The aptly named Bolt draws praise for his above above-average speed and arm strength, which allow him to capably handle all three outfield slots.
Here’s more from the AL West..
- Rangers 2018 second-round pick Owen White will miss the remainder of the 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery, writes Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The right-hander joins 2018 fourth-rounder Mason Englert as the second Rangers prospect from last year’s draft to undergo the procedure in recent weeks. The pair of injuries comes in spite of the Rangers organization keeping both White and Englert from pitching last summer in an effort to help manage the workloads of young, recent draftees. Both White and Englert were slated to start the season in short-season Class-A and were already years from being options at the big league level, but the loss of a pair of high-upside teenagers for a full season before either even pitches for a minor league affiliate is undoubtedly maddening for a club that has already been snakebit by pitching injuries in recent years.
- Kyle Seager tells Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times that his surgically repaired finger is back up to full strength and he feels ready to play, but the Mariners third baseman will still miss just over three more weeks by virtue of the fact that he’s on the 60-day injured list. Seager’s recovery is well ahead of schedule, and the 31-year-old figures to head out on a rehab assignment at some point between now and his May 25 return date in order to get him some in-game reps after sitting out since tearing a tendon in his finger on March 8. As Divish notes, his eventual return will create a crunch at the corner infield spots and designated hitter. Seager will join Ryon Healy as a third base option, while Healy, Daniel Vogelbach, Edwin Encarnacion and Jay Bruce are all options at first base and DH. A trade can ever be ruled out with ever-active GM Jerry Dipoto at the helm, though certainly Seager wouldn’t be the player to be moved; he’s owed $15.4MM through season’s end, plus another $19MM in 2020 and $18MM in 2021. His contract also contains a $15MM club option that is converted to a player option if he is traded. Divish suggests that Healy had previously been a candidate to be optioned to Triple-A, though he’s off to a .235/.301/.471 start (110 OPS+) with five homers and a league-leading 13 doubles in 2019.
ryan dull must be a minus 20 name
How about Balfour for a relief pitcher?
2019 Mariners = 2018 NY Mets who started 12-2 then fell away
The Mariners have a +2 run differential and and 0-10 against teams above 500.
They are playing better than anyone ever thought and they still are mediocre and are going to get worse.
They just got hot out the gate
They had a +40 run differential 4 days ago.
+2 now.
Yes, but it’s not like it’s been hovering +/- all season.
It”s a fair point. Data is a good thing. The Ms are 0-10 against +500 teams. That’s data as well.
I don’t think they are very good.
I think some of their hitters are for real. Vogelbach, Encarnacion, Haniger and Santana will be average to above-average hitters. They’ll be better once Seager is back defensively.
However, that’s really where it stops getting fun for the Mariners. Their defense isn’t great and their pitching isn’t great.
I never argued that they’re good. I’m just pointing out a fact.
Seager will really help at third when he comes back. Beckham is a place holder for long to get ready. White is the long-term 1st BM just waiting. The OF is full of players and prospects. Smith might end up a reserve when Kelenic and Lewis are ready. Haniger is the LFer long term. There are prospects and pitchers that will be ready in 2 years. Injury of course could hurt the whole timing of this but that is the plan. Will be fun to watch it unfold.
No team in the AL West that isn’t named Houston is any good.
Seattle is on a rebuild .500 was a hopeful outcome may or may not make it. They have still been fun to watch. The guys that are planned to be moved are playing well bringing up their value. 2021 is when they plan on being in the hunt. Enjoy the HR show while it last.
How much is in a name?
Amusing juxtaposition with Skye Bolt and Ryan Dull.
When I saw the headline I was really hoping KC had signed Usain Bolt to play OF
80 grade? I mean, it’s a cool name, but it’s no Boof Bonser
well, considering Boof Bonser’s real name is John Paul Bonser and Skye Bolt is not a nickname…
John Paul Bonser was awesome in Def Zeppelin.
Didn’t this guy win Moniker Madness in the minors at one point?
When is Sean Murphy coming up?
Not for a while. He’s on the 7-day IL with a knee sprain, and the A’s like their guys to have somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 plate appearances before they call them up. Murphy has had 1,047 PA’s in his minor league career, so he probably doesn’t get the call up until after the ASB.
They’ve made exceptions before, though. Matt Chapman had 1,377 minor league PA’s before we called him up, and Murphy is on a similar level when it comes to his defense. Potential 80 grade arm, 70 grade fielding, and catcher is a main need of ours if Phegley struggles.
It was unfortunate Herrman got hurt. Hundley has been awful and Herrman could have filled at 1B with Olson out. Instead, the A’s felt they needed to get Morales which I still don’t understand. Canha and Profar could have platooned at first opening up more playing time for Pinder at 2B. It was an odd unnecessary trade.
It was a move to keep another left handed bat in the lineup without having to call Dustin Fowler up. Dustin Fowler started red hot in Triple A but has cooled down significantly. He still needs to find that consistency, which is why they called Skye Bolt up in the first place. We also didn’t give up a lot for Kendrys Morales so it doesn’t really matter all that much.
All in all nothing has gone according to plan. Grossman isn’t hitting, Profar isn’t hitting and Morales isn’t hitting. More Pinder/Canha wasn’t going to save that.
“All in all nothing has gone according to plan. Grossman isn’t hitting, Profar isn’t hitting and Morales isn’t hitting.”
If those 3 failing to produce much offense wasn’t the Plan, you have a very optimistic planner. Grossman and Morales have both been in decline and Profar has only one decent year for his career.
Grossman hit .270 (with admittedly very little power) last year, up from previously hitting sub-.250 in 2017, and has always been a decent on base guy, which the A’s love. It was factored into the equation that worked last year when Martini manned left for us and OBP’d .380.
And no, we didn’t plan on Morales having an elite hard hit rate and batting .150. You don’t really plan for that. Profar has a similarly respectable hard hit rate and strikes out in only 15% of his PA’s and the results aren’t there, but he’s got a much longer leash with another year of arbitration left after this than Grossman and Morales, who are both expendable with our OF/1B depth. Wouldn’t be surprised if Grossman is gone when Martini comes back, and Morales is gone when Olson is back, and won’t be needed afterwards because Seth Brown is deserving of a shot here soon if Olson goes down again.
Healy is not a good third baseman, I would be surprised if he continues to play there regularly after Seagar returns.
He won’t. 3B is Seager’s to lose once he comes back.
Safe to say that Skye Bolt has a far brighter future than Ryan Dull.
That is the best all-name transaction since Milton Bradley was traded for Coco Crisp.
EDIT: Maybe Bradley and Crisp crossed roster paths like Bolt and Dull did, as the transaction lists in Baseball Reference don’t match up with my memory from years ago. Anyway, it was funny.
Definitely better than when the Mariners traded Doug Fister for Charlie Furbush.
You have to love Jack Z. He is why Ms fans like Dipoto so much. He runs circles around Z in competence.
Glad to see Mr. Bolt putting it all together. A five-tool player.
Part of that 5 tools is hitting and sadly, Bolt has never been much of one. Will be a solid 4th outfielder though, with his plus speed, glove, and arm.
This is coming from a fellow TarHeel who went to school with Skye.
When are teams gonna learn that babying pitchers’ arms does not do anything? They are most likely gonna get TJ surgery or some other type sometime in their career, so might as well be earlier rather than later. Nothing can stop it from happening, let the boys play.
Bolt was a potential 1st rd pick in college then questions about his bat and injuries. Something clicked after his demotion back to high A last year. And has hit well since. I could see him being a josh reddick type player. He does switch hit but struggled as righty batter previously. If laureano is the cf long term, bolt is probably moved to LF or RF depending on piscotty
Yeah, with Bolt he was considered a 4th outfielder because scouts weren’t sure he was ever going to hit enough to be an everyday player. He really started putting it together last year and had a good AFL, which is the entire reason the A’s chose to protect him over Richie Martin. I’d say the scouting report might need some revision, but his performance in Triple A is also a small sample size right now, and of course there will be a lot more exposure to breaking stuff in the majors that he’ll have to adjust too quickly.
I’d say Skye Bolt probably goes back down after this and we see what ends up happening with Grossman and Martini, whenever Martini ends up coming back. Skye Bolt could find himself back in the majors later this year if neither of those two guys round back into form. I don’t think anyone expects Martini to hit as well as he did last year, because his batted ball profile doesn’t really encourage a similar outcome, but his OBP skills are for real.
Bolt was never a potential 1st round pick. He was a high round pick, but no one was every going to take him in the 1st. Also his current numbers are not backed up with any of his peripherals. He is most likely just on a lucky hot streak, but more power to him.
What’s happening to the Rangers young pitching is more than snakebit at this point. They are doing something fundamentally wrong in their instructions or coaching or something along the line.
You must be an Angels fan trolling if you know nothing about the organization’s history. Go look up David Clyde. This isn’t new. Nor is it limited to the Rangers.
It’s not limited to the Rangers but it disproportionately effects the Rangers.
And if I were an Angels fan I would demand a lifetime extension for JD
tht.fangraphs.com/ten-interesting-facts-about-tommy-john-surgery/
I dont think the Rangers are disproportionately affected, it just seems that way.
Replacing dull with a bolt has to be a boon for any team. This transaction is a bit of a dull bolt, though.
Was Skye Bolt produced by Pfizer?