After bouncing around pro baseball, ZooKeepers coach may have found his niche

ASHEBORO — Life can certainly be a roller coaster for professional athletes. There are so many ups and downs, lessons that have to be learned, hurdles that have to be cleared and a plethora of adjustments that must be made.

There are plenty of highs, plenty of lows and question after question and challenge after challenge when pursuing the dream of any youngster who has ever picked up a baseball.

Skye Bolt has experienced it all. From the incredible feeling of recording his first hit in Major League Baseball, recording his first home run and feeling like his dream was indeed coming true … to injuries, the COVID year and realizing his professional career was ending.

Through the joys, through the pain, through the triumphs, through the highs and lows, Bolt said he knew he had plenty more to offer in the sport of baseball, so he has begun a coaching career that started this summer with the Asheboro ZooKeepers.

Bolt is the hitting coach and first base coach for the ZooKeepers, who had one of the most prolific offenses in the Coastal Plain League. 

 “It kind of was one of those things where it ended up when all of the stars aligned,” said ZooKeepers General Manager Kory Dunbar, a teammate of Bolt’s at the University of North Carolina, on how Bolt came to the ZooKeepers. “He was finishing his degree and we had hung out in the fall playing catch-up. He said he had a strong interest in coaching and we happened to have a hitting job opening. A few conversations back and forth …”

There may or may not have been beers, football and fantasy football involved as the two former Tar Heel teammates became reacquainted.

“I wanted to dip my toe in the water and start coaching and see if this is what I want to do and the last two and a half months have been an absolute blast,” Bolt said. “I am looking right now for coaching positions (collegiately) and hope to be able to come up with one.”

Judging by what many of the ZooKeeper players said, any college would be fortunate to land Bolt.

Brady McGuire, who has had an impressive summer with the ZooKeepers, hitting .327 with 57 runs scored entering Sunday’s playoff game at Forest City, said Bolt was a key reason for his and the team’s offensive stats.

“Skye has done what every 5- or 6-year-old dreams of doing when he picks up a baseball,” McGuire said. “It makes what he teaches so much more valid. He made it clear from the first day he was here, he was going to help us and he’s helped us all summer.

“I’ve learned so many lessons from Skye,” McGuire added. “How to become a better man on and off the field, being a good person for the community. Hearing that from a big-leaguer is eye-opening. If I want to make my dream come true, this is what I have to do.”

Bolt’s ability to help hitters is evident by the numbers the team posted this summer. The ZooKeepers were second in runs (.404), third in batting average (.297), second in on-base percentage (.433) and third in slugging (.468).

“We only have these guys for a little over two months and they all come from different backgrounds,” Bolt said. “The thing with hitting is the adage of all-time: Keep it simple. What is your approach? What does your swing naturally have that you’re gifted in and what are your deficiencies that take you off track? Do I have an approach? Am I looking for the right pitch and am I on time? 

“As long as they are prepared with an approach and on time, that’s what I beat into their heads this summer.”

It has been a long journey for Bolt, who went to Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School in Atlanta, GA, and hit a robust .430 his senior year. He was drafted out of high school by the Washington Nationals in the 26th round in 2012. He did not sign and instead went to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

He said when draft day came, he realized he needed to go to school.

“It was a difficult decision the day before (the draft),” he said. “But looking back, mentally and physically, I don’t think I would have been prepared at 18 years old to step into what I know now is the grind of professional baseball.”

He enjoyed three solid campaigns, but nothing like his freshman season in 2013, when he garnered numerous awards. He was named to the All-ACC second team as well as being named a freshman All-American after hitting .321, scoring 48 times and knocking in 51. He managed these impressive numbers despite missing a month with a broken foot. He also made USA’s collegiate national baseball team.

The Tar Heels went to the College World Series, losing to NC State in the opening game, then defeating LSU and NC State in their next two games before being eliminated by eventual national champion UCLA.

Overall, the Tar Heels finished 59-12.

“It’s the same culture that any dream team really aims to create,” Bolt said. “I think of all the talented players … It was a winning clubhouse, a winning mentality. That freshman year, every guy who went into the lineup, whether it was a substitution when I went out or a platoon guy, we all wanted to win. There was no stat checking. It was what do we have to do to win this ballgame right now? 

“We just wanted to win and when 

you want to win and have a culture and a group of guys who are truly invested and that’s their sole purpose, you get better.”

He started 60 games in center field his sophomore year, hitting .257 with four home runs, nine doubles and 32 RBIs. He coaxed a team-high 38 walks that season and was 11 of 12 in the stolen base department. He had eight outfield assists that season while making just three errors in 192 chances. 

In his final season at UNC, he hit .259 with 44 runs scored, nine doubles, 10 home runs and 45 RBIs.

He was drafted for a second time, as the Oakland Athletics grabbed him in the fourth round of the 2015 draft, the 128th overall pick.

He traveled up and down the A’s farm system until breaking out in the 2018 season with a combined .260 batting average, 19 home runs, 19 stolen bases and 69 RBIs.

After a hot start in 2019 with the Las Vegas Aviators of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League — a .269 average with 11 home runs and 69 RBIs — he was called up to the parent club and made his MLB debut on May 3. He had 10 MLB at-bats in 2019, recording his first MLB hit on May 4, a double against Pittsburgh.

“I got a curveball on a 1-2 count and I hammered it,” said Bolt, whose father was born in Pittsburgh.

Bolt said he thought the ball was gone, but it hit the fence without him actually seeing it.

“I dropped my head when I got to first base and I’m jogging to second and I look up and all of a sudden the ball ricochets and Starling Marte picks it up and throws a strike to second. I get there in time, not near a bang-bang, but it wasn’t how I wanted it.”

Bolt said at that moment he thought of all the support he had gotten from friends and family throughout his rise to the majors.

He did not appear in a game for the Athletics during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

“COVID was a stopbreak, a pause and momentum killer for a lot of guys in the sport,” Bolt said. “We were in San Jose, California, which was Ground Zero basically for California for homelessness and the effects and shockwave of unemployment that COVID brought. In my mind looking back, it felt like you were in quicksand, just spinning your wheels and hoping for some type of traction.” 

Bolt was designated for assignment in April of 2021.

Bolt was claimed off waivers by the San Francisco Giants that same month, but made just two appearances for the Giants.

He went back to Oakland and was called up on June 1. He recorded his first career home run against Kansas City reliever Wade Davis.

He was sent back to Las Vegas later that year where he hit .387.

In May of 2022, he was placed on the injured list with a strained hamstring, but when activated, hit .326 with four home runs and 23 RBIs in 24 games. 

In the majors, he appeared in a career-high 42 games, hitting four home runs and knocking in 13.

After a brief stint on the injured list with a patella subluxation, he was activated in September, removed from the 40-man roster and sent outright to Las Vegas. He instead opted for free agency.

Bolt had stints with the Milwaukee Brewers organization and the Atlanta Braves minor league teams, but was released by Atlanta in August of 2024.

In parts of four MLB seasons, he played in 81 games. He hit .156 with 27 hits, five home runs and 16 RBIs over 173 at-bats.

“I had a lot of setbacks in that regard, COVID played its part, but I always had the mentality of never having a Plan B,” Bolt said. “I was going to put all my effort into this while I’m young and my body can do it. 

“I dreamed of it as a kid. The way I was raised, to a fault to be frank, is if there is a way to do it and I believe in it, I am going to make it happen. If you ask any of my coaches or anybody close to me, I just willed it to happen. That pretty much sums it up.”

Now as a coach, he has shown he has the ability to succeed at that position.

“Everyone has their own way of doing things,” Dunbar said. “Everyone has their own philosophy. It’s important to have a guy like Skye who has a high level of playing experience. He’s picked up certain things that work well. He figures out the deficiencies some of them have and their strengths and fine tunes the weaknesses.”

Bolt has proved this summer he can analyze swings, correct any weaknesses and help that player take one step closer to realizing their dream, much like he did throughout his baseball career