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Henry Bolte is the fastest player in baseball, and that speed has made him electric to watch. It's also hiding one of his biggest flaws.
One glance at the stat line will tell you that Bolte, 22, is batting .317 with a .401 OBP, two home runs, 12 RBI and 14 runs scored. He's put together a solid first six weeks in the big leagues, and has looked like the A's centerfielder of the future. He's also added 10 stolen bases on 13 attempts, bringing a new dimension to the A's offense.
The past three days he's also been moved to the top of the A's lineup, which could be a spot we see him in a lot more in the coming years.
But there is one number that is still concerning in his profile, and it's his ground ball rate.
A slightly deeper dive into his numbers will tell you that Bolte has the highest ground ball rate in the big leagues at 64.7%, making him one of just four MLB players with a ground ball rate above 60%.
His launch angle is actually negative, at -0.6 degrees, which means the ball is driven straight into the ground more often than not. His speed has helped him beat out some of the throws across the diamond for infield hits, but his expected batting average based on the data is just .241, more than 70 points below his actual .317 average.
Pulling the ball in the air is one way to measure a player's power potential, and Bolte ends up ranking 325th out of 331 eligible players in that rate too, sitting at 7.1% balls in the air to the pull side.
The A's are working with him to get the ball a little off the ground.
"The power will come," A's manager Mark Kotsay said on A's Cast. "It's a matter of time. He's getting attacked with a lot of sinker right now. We're working on getting him into his legs to be able to elevate the ball a little bit more. But we don't want to change much about Henry," he added with a smile.
Conversely, one benefit of not putting the ball in the air often is that he also isn't popping the ball up much at all, currently holding just a 1.2% rate, which ranks him 326th out of 331 players. At least when he's putting the ball on the ground he has a chance to beat the throw with his tremendous speed.
"The one thing that doesn't slump is speed," Kotsay said.
In his first 11 games at the Complex League in 2022, Bolte struck out 48.7% of the time. Through 39 games in the big leagues he's striking out 27.3%, which is a tremendous amount of progress over the years since he was selected out of Palo Alto High School by the A's.
When Bolte finds an area he wants to improve upon, he makes the improvement.
While he's hitting grounders currently, his 91.4 mph exit velocity is nearly three miles per hour above league average, and matches Shea Langeliers, who ranks 41st in baseball in exit velo. Langeliers has 19 home runs this season and is a finalist in the fan voting for the All Star Game.
Among center fielders, Bolte would rank fifth in exit velocity with enough plate appearances, so if he can work out his launch angle, he could project as one of the best all-around players at the position.
Finally, he does a good job of spreading the ball around already, with 32.9% of batted balls to the pull side, 40% straight and 27.1% to the opposite field.
The A's have started locking up their homegrown talent before they get more expensive over the past two seasons. Bolte isn't quite at that level yet, but with some lift to his swing he'll have power to all fields and the speed to take the extra base, making him the next extension candidate for the A's to consider.
Continue reading...
One glance at the stat line will tell you that Bolte, 22, is batting .317 with a .401 OBP, two home runs, 12 RBI and 14 runs scored. He's put together a solid first six weeks in the big leagues, and has looked like the A's centerfielder of the future. He's also added 10 stolen bases on 13 attempts, bringing a new dimension to the A's offense.
The past three days he's also been moved to the top of the A's lineup, which could be a spot we see him in a lot more in the coming years.
But there is one number that is still concerning in his profile, and it's his ground ball rate.
Waiting For Liftoff
A slightly deeper dive into his numbers will tell you that Bolte has the highest ground ball rate in the big leagues at 64.7%, making him one of just four MLB players with a ground ball rate above 60%.
His launch angle is actually negative, at -0.6 degrees, which means the ball is driven straight into the ground more often than not. His speed has helped him beat out some of the throws across the diamond for infield hits, but his expected batting average based on the data is just .241, more than 70 points below his actual .317 average.
Pulling the ball in the air is one way to measure a player's power potential, and Bolte ends up ranking 325th out of 331 eligible players in that rate too, sitting at 7.1% balls in the air to the pull side.
The A's are working with him to get the ball a little off the ground.
"The power will come," A's manager Mark Kotsay said on A's Cast. "It's a matter of time. He's getting attacked with a lot of sinker right now. We're working on getting him into his legs to be able to elevate the ball a little bit more. But we don't want to change much about Henry," he added with a smile.
Conversely, one benefit of not putting the ball in the air often is that he also isn't popping the ball up much at all, currently holding just a 1.2% rate, which ranks him 326th out of 331 players. At least when he's putting the ball on the ground he has a chance to beat the throw with his tremendous speed.
"The one thing that doesn't slump is speed," Kotsay said.
When Bolte Puts it Together
In his first 11 games at the Complex League in 2022, Bolte struck out 48.7% of the time. Through 39 games in the big leagues he's striking out 27.3%, which is a tremendous amount of progress over the years since he was selected out of Palo Alto High School by the A's.
When Bolte finds an area he wants to improve upon, he makes the improvement.
While he's hitting grounders currently, his 91.4 mph exit velocity is nearly three miles per hour above league average, and matches Shea Langeliers, who ranks 41st in baseball in exit velo. Langeliers has 19 home runs this season and is a finalist in the fan voting for the All Star Game.
Among center fielders, Bolte would rank fifth in exit velocity with enough plate appearances, so if he can work out his launch angle, he could project as one of the best all-around players at the position.
Finally, he does a good job of spreading the ball around already, with 32.9% of batted balls to the pull side, 40% straight and 27.1% to the opposite field.
The A's have started locking up their homegrown talent before they get more expensive over the past two seasons. Bolte isn't quite at that level yet, but with some lift to his swing he'll have power to all fields and the speed to take the extra base, making him the next extension candidate for the A's to consider.
Continue reading...
