Tar Heels in the Pros: Skye Bolt hits first MLB homer

Skye Bolt launched his first career homerun in the majors on Saturday in an 11-2 victory for the Oakland Athletics.

With a 6-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth, the A’s looked to win game three of the four-game series. Bolt, the leadoff man, had not factored into the offense as he struck out his previous three at-bats in the contest.

In his fourth plate appearance, Bolt ambushed a first-pitch fastball left and drove it deep to center as the ball soared over the 400-foot wall.

This was the beginning of a five-run inning for Oakland, but more importantly, it gave Bolt his first hit of the 2021 campaign.

Bolt played under former head coach Mike Fox for his 2013 and 2014 seasons before declaring for the draft. In his first season at UNC, Bolt earned consensus All-American honors as he hit .321 with six homers, 14 doubles and 51 RBIs. As a sophomore, Bolt hit a modest .257 with four homeruns, nine doubles and 32 RBIs.

With the128th overall pick, Oakland chose Bolt in the 2015 MLB draft .

The former UNC product has not found the same success he had in his two years for the Tar Heels as he’s been relegated to a bench spot amassing only 20 at-bats in the majors. In those 20 at-bats that span the 2019 and 2021 seasons — as he did not play in 2020 — he’s tallied just two hits.

If there is an optimistic twist to this in his time in Triple-A with the Las Vegas Aviators, Bolt hit .375 with a .488 on base percentage in 20 games in the 2021 season. One can assume this is what led to him being called up. In his past two games, Thursday and Saturday, he did start in center field.

But with center fielder Ramón Laureano on the IL, it is safe to assume when that he returns Bolt will head to the bench or the minors.

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