Lincoln Zdunich
Henry Bolte lit up the minor league baseball world, hitting 12-for-12 during a recent stretch. He had five extra-base hits in Friday’s game before posting another 5-for-5 game the following day. That performance has contributed to a monster .348/.418/.658 slash line and 1.076 OPS in 37 games with the Athletics‘ Triple-A squad.
According to sources reported by MLB Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo, the A’s are going to call Bolte up and give him a shot at staying on with the big-league club. The Athletics already have some of the best young hitters in the game with Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers and Jacob Wilson. Adding Bolte to that crop could catapult them into legitimate contention.
The A’s are Competing..?
It’s hard to believe but, yes, the Athletics are in contention right now. They’ve managed to claw their way to the top of a struggling American League West division. The club owns a respectable 21-19 record, putting them two games ahead of the second-place Texas Rangers. If the season ended today, they would actually receive a bye in the postseason, owning the second-best record of the AL division leaders.
That’s been due mostly to that young offensive core. The A’s are in the top ten of MLB teams in almost every offensive category including batting average (.249), on-base percentage (.326), slugging percentage (.400) and OPS (.726). That has helped cover up the lack of viable pitching on the Athletics roster. The pitching staff owns a combined 4.42 ERA on the year (21st in MLB).
Kurtz and Langeliers have headlined that group. Despite getting off to a slow start in his sophomore campaign, Kurtz has since heated up. The 2025 AL Rookie of the Year has an .841 OPS with a ridiculous .414 OBP. To put that number in perspective, Barry Bonds has a career OBP of .444. Langeliers finally seems to be breaking out, posting a .336 batting average with 11 home runs. The backstop owns an OPS over 1.000 for the first time in his career.
Bolte’s Place on the Roster
The outfield has been mostly set for the Athletics with Lawrence Butler, Denzel Clarke and Tyler Soderstrom making up the starting group. But that group has been seriously lacking offensively, posting a combined .191 batting average. In their place, Carlos Cortes and Zack Gelof have stepped up. Cortes boasts an incredible .355/.408/.570 slash line with a .978 OPS.
With that in mind, Bolte has plenty of opportunities to get reps despite a crowded outfield. But if he struggles early, the A’s can always send him back down to Triple-A. Bolte is only 22 years old and has plenty of time to develop. But if he can contribute at the big-league level, it could go a long way towards the club winning its first division title (not including the shortened 2020 campaign) since 2013.
