Underrated A's Prospect Taking a Step Forward

It's tough to consider a second-round pick underrated, but with the Athleitcs having guys flying through their system these days, it's been easy for people to overlook outfielder Henry Bolte at times. MLB Pipeline has him as the team's No. 8 overall prospect, while FanGraphs ranked him at No. 28. The jury is still out on exactly what kind of a player he'll be.

Back in 2022, the A's used their second round selection on Bolte out of Palo Alto High School, and two tools immediately jumped off the page: His speed, and his power. FanGraphs has his wheels rated as an 80 on the 20-80 scouting scale, while his raw power is a 55 with some room to grow as he matures.

He spent last season split between High-A Lansing and Double-A Midland, and combined to hit .267 with a .368 OBP (130 wRC+), adding in 15 home runs and 46 stolen bases. This season he's back in Midland, at least for the start of 2025.

The 21-year-old has shown immense promise, but it was his strikeout rate that was a bit concerning, especially in Double-A, where it sat at 38.8%. That's entirely too high.

This season he's striking out just 17.3% of the time through 13 games played, and if that keeps up, then he could be in line for a promotion before long. The A's outfield is fairly set with Lawrence Butler in right and JJ Bleday in center, but prospects Colby Thomas, Denzel Clarke, and Bolte will all be vying for that third open position in the coming year or so.

A week ago Bolte was batting .400, and while he's cooled off a bit since, going 4-for-21 (.190), he's still batting .304 with a .385 OBP and a pair of dingers.

It's this start that had Baseball America put him on a list of 18 prospect performances that could mean something--or nothing--early in 2025.

On the bright side, he's struck out just nine times so far this season while drawing five free passes. The one caveat there is that one-third of those strikeouts have come in the past three games.

While it's still much too early to tell if this start is a sign of the new Bolte, the way that he's going to make a name for himself in the A's system is going to be by limiting those strikeouts and crushing balls over the fence. So far this season, he's doing just that.