Elephant Rumblings: Playoffs, and Bolte is still hitting

MLB news roundup

Happy Thursday Athletics Nation!

Another day goes by and another day closer to Spring Training. That tremendous growth we saw from the club in the second half should get us excited for the coming season, even if it is in the temporary home of Sacramento. Thinking about Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker hitting absolute nukes in that minor league stadium. And at the same time shuddering at the thought of the amount of long balls the pitching staff may yield. It’ll be a load of something, that’s for sure.

Baseball season isn’t quite done yet though! We saw the Mets punch their ticket to the NLCS yesterday with a win over their division rival, the Philadelphia Phillies. It wasn’t an especially close game as the Mets took the lead on a grand slam and never looked back, sending the Phillies home early yet again. That was the only series that came to a close as the Yankees and Tigers both took 2-1 leads in their series while the Dodgers found a way to steal one on the road to send it back to Los Angeles for an epic Game 5. Exactly what we all wanted. -rubs hands-

Back to our A’s, the team is in hibernation mode. Even then we have some of our younger prospects playing during the offseason in an effort to continue growing and refining their game as they make their march towards the big leagues. We saw outfield prospect Denzel Clarke get in on the action in the AFL opener and yesterday we saw another young outfielder in the Athletics system get in on the action. This time in a bit of a bigger way:

The 2022 2nd-round draft pick seemed to have picked up right where he left off. Having just finished his third season in the Athletics’ organization, Bolte is steadily growing into the player the club hoped they nabbed when they picked him 56th overall a couple years back. The power is coming and when combined with his raw athleticism and speed, the club may have something in Bolte. After spending 54 games in Double-A this past season it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Bolte forces his way onto the Triple-A roster. And after that it’s just one call away from the big leagues. He’s on his way, everyone. He’ll sneak up on you if you’re not paying attention!

MLB News & Interest:

• Mets clinch first trip to NLCS since 2015 with win over Phillies
• Jeff McNeil to play in Arizona, could rejoin Mets for NLCS
• Yankees win critical Game 3, on verge of AlCS after win over Royals
• Tigers on verge of first ALCS since 2015 after win over Guardians
• Jose Abreu to play in Arizona in preparation for 2025 comeback
• Astros’ Dubon undergoes surgery on thumb
• Red Sox make multiple changes to coaching staff
• No extension talks between Dodgers, Teoscar Hernandez
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

More stats from the AFL:

Rooting for Manaea!

Thoughts???