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Skye Bolt

Injured List Placements: Thompson, Bolt, Cabrera

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Catching up on some of today’s injury news…

  • Nationals right-hander Mason Thompson was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right biceps strain.  Washington called up Hunter Harvey from Triple-A in the corresponding move, with the former Orioles top prospect getting his first look with his new team since the Nats claimed him off waivers from the Giants two weeks ago.  Thompson threw only three pitches before being forced out of last night’s outing against the Mets.  X-rays are negative, and Thompson is also undergoing an MRI today, Washington manager Dave Martinez told MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato and other reporters.
  • The Athletics placed Skye Bolt on the 10-day IL with a right oblique strain.  Left-hander Adam Kolarek was called up from Triple-A.  After debuting with five games for Oakland in 2019, Bolt didn’t see any action in 2020 and then played in 34 total games with the Giants and A’s last season.  Bolt has some big numbers with Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate but hasn’t brought that pop to the majors, with only an .090/.116/.164 slash line over 71 career plate appearances in the Show.
  • Edward Cabrera has been placed on the minor league injured list, as the former Marlins top prospect is dealing with a right biceps injury.  Beyond the delayed start that everyone faced for Spring Training, Cabrera’s spring work was also delayed by a visa issue, hence his extra time in the minors.  While this particular injury isn’t thought to be too serious, Cabrera did miss two months last season due to an inflamed nerve in that same right biceps.  Among the many highly-touted young arms in the Marlins organization, Cabrera is one of the most promising, regularly featuring on top-100 lists over the last three seasons.  The right-hander made his MLB debut last season, posting a 5.81 ERA over 26 1/3 innings for Miami.

A’s Reinstate Mark Canha, Option Skye Bolt

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The A’s reinstated Mark Canha from the injured list, optioning Skye Bolt to Triple-A to make room on the roster, per the team.

Canha has been tremendous this season, slashing .255/.375/.450 in 325 plate appearances while knocking 11 home runs. Canha was on-pace for a career year before a hip strain sent him to the injured list on June 20th. He’s been out for 20 days, but with a career-high of 126 games, Canha still has the potential to post career-best marks this season, should his good health hold.

Bolt, 27, has stepped in as an injury replacement on multiple occasions for the A’s, slashing just .109/.109/.196 in 48 plate appearances. Though defense is his calling card, Bolt’s -23 wRC+ suggests he has fallen on particularly hard times at the plate. With the A’s starting outfield back together, Bolt heads back to Triple-A to try to get his bat back on track.

A’s Place Stephen Piscotty On 10-Day Injured List, Recall Skye Bolt

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The Athletics have placed Stephen Piscotty on the 10-day injured list because of a left wrist sprain, the team announced. Piscotty will see a specialist in Arizona, per MLB.com’s Martín Gallegos (via Twitter). Skye Bolt will be recalled to claim Piscotty’s roster spot.

Bolt was only recently sent down. The injury to Piscotty, however, allows Oakland to turn around and bring him right back to the active roster. Bolt had been serving as an injury replacement for the recently-returned Ramon Laureano. In nine games, Bolt went 1-for-13 at the plate with a solo homer. While his bat has yet to heat up at the Major League level, Bolt has flashed plus glovework in the outfield while making a couple of highlight reel catches. His glove has been worth one defensive run saved in a mere 36 innings of scattered playing time in centerfield.

Piscotty, generally speaking, sees semi-regular playing time in right field, splitting responsibilities with Seth Brown in a fairly straightforward platoon. The right-handed Piscotty has 75 plate appearances against southpaws this year (with a 105 wRC+) versus 66 opportunities against right-handers (with a 59 wRC+). On the whole, the veteran owns a .217/.284/.357 line with 4 home runs, a 7.8 percent walk rate and 23.4 percent strikeout rate. Piscotty’s splits haven’t always been quite so severe, but with a 127 wRC+ in his career against lefties – and just 102 wRC+ against righties – he can generally be regarded as a plus bat so long as he’s kept on the short side of a platoon.

Brown, his counterpart in right, has just 14 plate appearances against lefties versus 141 plate appearances against righties. In the, admittedly, tiny sample, Brown has managed quite well against southpaws – 132 wRC+, which can be attributed to one home run and three walks). With Piscotty out, manager Bob Melvin could give Brown an opportunity to prove himself with more volume against left-handers. More likely, however, Melvin will turn to Chad Pinder or Bolt himself, who is a switch-hitter.

Athletics Reinstate Ramon Laureano From 10-Day IL

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The A’s have reinstated outfielder Ramon Laureano from the 10-day injured list, the team announced.  Outfielder Skye Bolt was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

A strained right hip sent Laureano to the IL on May 28 (retroactively), so he’ll return after missing just short of three weeks.  The injury interrupted an excellent campaign for “Laser Ramon,” who was hitting .257/.332/.503 with 11 home runs over 205 plate appearances.

After an average 2020 season at the plate, this year’s performance is much closer to the numbers Laureano posted in 2018-19, increasingly his all-around value to Oakland.  Laureano’s center field defense has been either around average (0 Outs Above Average, -1 Defensive Runs Saved) or better than average (+4.9 UZR/150) depending on your metric of choice, but Laureano has nonetheless been a big contributor to the Athletics’ rise to first place in the AL West.

A’s Place Ramon Laureano On Injured List, Recall Skye Bolt

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The Athletics have placed outfielder Ramon Laureano on the 10-day injured list with a strained right hip, retroactive to May 28th. Skye Bolt has been recalled from Triple-A, per Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links). The A’s have confirmed the move.

Laureano hasn’t played since last Thursday because of the injury, which was originally termed “right groin tightness,” per Kawara. It’s been a strong season for Laureano, who has already posted 1.9 bWAR/2.1 fWAR through 48 games. Mark Canha figured to continue to see time in centerfield in Laureano’s absence.

As for Bolt, he was claimed off waivers by the Giants on April 5th, but he managed just one plate appearance across the bay. The A’s re-acquired him exactly a month later for cash considerations. He has mashed at Triple-A this season for Oakland, slashing .375/.488/.625 over 80 plate appearances with the Las Vegas Aviators.

A’s Acquire Skye Bolt

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The Athletics announced Wednesday that they’ve acquired outfielder Skye Bolt from the Giants in exchange for cash. Bolt is a former A’s draft pick who spent his entire career with the organization until being designated for assignment back on April 1 and subsequently claimed by the Giants. His time on the other side of the Bay lasted only a month, as he was designated for assignment by the Giants as well last week. He’ll now come full circle back to his original organization, where he’s been assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas.

The 27-year-old Bolt only appeared in two games with the Giants and struck out in his lone plate appearance with the team. He’s played in seven big league games dating back to 2019 but tallied only a dozen trips to the plate, going 1-for-11 with a walk and four punchouts.

Bolt spent the 2020 season in the Athletics’ 60-man player pool but never got the call from their alternate site to the big leagues. His last full season came in 2019 when he appeared in 89 games with Las Vegas, slashing .269/.350/.459 in 347 plate appearances. The 2015 fourth-rounder has never been considered one of the organization’s very top prospects, but his ability to play all three outfield spots and a knack for drawing walks (10.8 percent in the minors) has landed him in the middle tier of some A’s Top 30 lists. Overall, Bolt is a career .249/.335/.426 hitter in parts of five minor league seasons.

Giants Select Zack Littell, Designate Skye Bolt

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The Giants have selected the contract of right-hander Zack Littell, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle first reported. In other moves, the Giants designated outfielder Skye Bolt for assignment, recalled outfielder Steven Duggar and optioned infielder Jason Vosler, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets.

Still just 25 years old, Littell joined the Giants on a minor league contract over the winter after spending parts of three seasons in the majors with the Twins, who acquired him from the Yankees in 2017. Littell totaled 63 2/3 innings in the bigs from 2018-20 and posted a 4.52 ERA/4.70 SIERA with a 17.6 percent strikeout rate, an 8.3 walk rate and a 39.2 percent groundball mark. After Littell surrendered seven earned runs on 12 hits (including five home runs) over 6 1/3 frames in 2020, the Twins outrighted him.

Bolt, 27, joined the Giants as a waiver claim from the Athletics on April 5. He wound up appearing in just two of the Giants’ games and picking up one plate appearance before they designated him. Bolt still has a minor league option remaining, and he was once a decently regarded prospect, so another team could try to acquire him via waivers or trade in the next week.

Giants Claim Skye Bolt, Designate Ashton Goudeau

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The Giants have claimed outfielder Skye Bolt via waivers from the Athletics and designated right-hander Ashton Goudeau for assignment, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area.

The 27-year-old Bolt only spent a few days in limbo, as the Athletics designated him April 1. He joined the team as a fourth-round pick in 2015 and later ranked as one of Baseball America’s top 20 Athletics prospects on multiple occasions, but Bolt hasn’t gotten much major league experience yet. In 2019, the only season in which he made it to the bigs, Bolt collected one hit in 11 plate appearances. Bolt has been much more successful in Triple-A, where he has batted .269/.350/.459 over 347 trips to the plate.

Goudeau had a short stay on the 40-man roster of San Francisco, which claimed him from the Orioles on March 18. The 28-year-old previously spent time with the Pirates in the offseason, and he was in the Colorado organization before that. He made his MLB debut last year, but he totaled just 8 1/3 innings of seven-run ball. Goudeau did star during his most recent minors action, 2019, when he pitched to a stellar 2.07 ERA with similarly impressive strikeout and walk percentages (30.1 and 4.0, respectively) in 78 1/3 Double-A innings.

A’s Select Jed Lowrie, Place Trevor Rosenthal On IL, Designate Skye Bolt

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7:20pm: Rosenthal is dealing with “fatigue” in his shoulder, according to manager Bob Melvin, who said he’s “not really sure” how much time the reliever will miss (per Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle).

11:10am: The Athletics announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contracts of infielder Jed Lowrie and lefty Reymin Guduan from Triple-A Las Vegas. Oakland also optioned righty Daulton Jeffries and lefty A.J. Puk to the alternate training site, placed righties Mike Fiers (hip inflammation) and Trevor Rosenthal (right shoulder inflammation) on the injured list and designated outfielder Skye Bolt for assignment.

Lowrie, 37 in April, returned for a third go-around with the A’s over the winter when he inked a minor league deal. His two-year stint with the Mets proved to be an abject disaster, as he tallied just eight plate appearances over the life of a two-year, $20MM contract. That Lowrie was injured for the bulk of his tenure in Queens was frustrating enough for Mets fans, but the team’s bizarre and cryptic series of non-updates on the veteran infielder’s knee troubles proved extra perplexing. Eventually, the Mets termed Lowrie’s injury as “PCL laxity” in his left knee, but little additional detail was ever provided.

It appears as though Lowrie is healthy now, however, as he not only made the roster but did so on the heels of a respectable Cactus League showing. The switch-hitter tallied 37 plate appearances over the course of 13 games, hitting .265/.297/.559 with a pair of homers and four doubles. The A’s surely would like to see that OBP tick up a bit, which seems quite likely given Lowrie’s career 9.8 percent walk rate. He should factor prominently into the mix for playing time at second base, where the A’s will be missing Tommy La Stella, who signed across the Bay with the Giants on a three-year deal as a free agent.

The shoulder troubles for Rosenthal, meanwhile, are a concerning development. The righty was slowed by a groin strain late in Spring Training, but a shoulder issue is of greater concern. There’s no indication that the injury is especially serious at the moment, but arm troubles of any kind for a pitcher who has a somewhat recent Tommy John surgery in his history (2018) raise a red flag.

The A’s surprised the baseball world by swooping in and signing Rosenthal to a one-year, $11MM contract late in the offseason after he wasn’t able to find a multi-year deal to his liking. The former Cardinals closer returned to prominence with the Royals and Padres last year in overpowering fashion. Rosenthal was a true juggernaut at the back of both teams’ bullpens during the regular season, posting a combined 1.90 ERA with a 41.8 percent strikeout rate. A similar powerhouse showing in 2021 would surely position him nicely for that lucrative multi-year pact he covets, but he’s off to an inauspicious start.

Bolt, meanwhile, will now be traded or placed on outright waivers within the next week. He has just 11 big league plate appearances under his belt but is capable of playing all three outfield spots and carries a .269/.350/.459 batting line in 347 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He does have a minor league option remaining.

Athletics Call Up Skye Bolt

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The A’s have called up some outfield depth for the final few games of the season, summoning Skye Bolt to the big league roster, per a club announcement.

Oakland was without Khris Davis due to the stomach flu yesterday and saw Mark Canha exit last night’s game due to a groin injury, thus prompting the move to get an additional body onto the roster. It won’t be the MLB debut for the 25-year-old Bolt, who appeared in four games with the Athletics earlier this season.

Bolt, a fourth-round pick in the 2015 draft, spent the rest of the season in Triple-A Las Vegas, where he batted .269/.350/.459 with 11 homers, 19 doubles, three triples and seven steals in 347 plate appearances. He had his share of strikeout issues with the Aviators (27.1 percent) but did manage to draw a free pass in 10.7 percent of his trips to the plate.

Despite modest stolen-base totals throughout his pro career, Bolt fittingly draws plus grades on his speed in scouting reports and is also considered to have an above-average throwing arm. He’s not considered to be one of the organization’s top prospect but does land in the middle of the team’s Top 30 rankings at MLB.com and Fangraphs. Bolt has split the Triple-A season between center field and right field in mostly even fashion, so he’ll presumably be an option at any of the three outfield slots should a need arise.

The A’s have a half-game lead over the Rays for the top Wild Card spot in the American League, with the Indians still factoring into the mix. Cleveland trails Tampa Bay by a 1.5-game deficit with another four games to play.

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