2015 Phillies draft preview: Skye Bolt, OF

I go to a lot of UNC and NC State baseball games so I've seen a lot of Bolt. His Freshman year I thought he was a possible 1st Round pick. Last year he looked fairly terrible. His plate patience was still really good, but his contact wasn't as solid, along with some bad luck. He finished off with a pretty bad performance in the Cape Cod League. He's still got several plus tools and he's got good versatility to play anywhere in the OF and would be a very viable Second Round pick.

Now for the details, Bolt's a 6'2", 175lb Switch-hitting Outfielder for the University of North Carolina. He's primarily a Centerfielder, but he's seen time in the Corners. He's a solid Plus runner, he has a Plus arm and he's a plus or better Defender in all 3 OF spots. The bat is where all the questions are about Bolt and that's where I'll start.

As I said I've seen a lot of Bolt and I love his athleticism, I don't really love his bat though. There's not much Power, probably fringe average, and most of that is Doubles power. As for his hit tool, he seems to have a good eye and generally lays off bad pitches, but he doesn't always make particularly solid contact. The video below (courtesy Baseball America) shows both his right handed swing and left handed swing in batting practice. He has a very upright and fairly closed batting stance as a Right handed hitter. He has a bit of a stride and he loads his hands back to start the swing. His hand load isn't as deep as Maikel Franco's, but there is definitely some load. It's a swing built for line drives. His left handed swing is still a tall stance, but more open. He has less hand load in BP, but his game swing (which you see at the end) is more open and has more hand load than his BP swing, there's a little more loft to this swing too from my eye.

I honestly think with Bolt plate discipline he'll get on base often enough to be a viable backup and his arm and speed give him a likely floor of 4th OF. His ceiling might be something close to Jacoby Ellsbury. For a Second Round pick neither of those is a bad return.