The Athletics are calling up outfield prospect Henry Bolte, a move first reported Monday by Terrel Emerson that gives the club another young option in center field and likely puts him in the lineup every day. Bolte is not on the 40-man roster, but Oakland has an open spot, so the team will only need to make a corresponding 26-man move when it formally selects his contract.

The 2022 second-round pick arrives after a scorching stretch at Triple-A, where he had hits in 12 consecutive plate appearances and was batting.348/.418/.658 with a 157 wRC+ in 177 plate appearances. He added 12 homers, seven doubles, three triples and 17 steals in 19 tries, while posting a 9.6% walk rate and a 22% strikeout rate. Bolte was also averaging 90.4 mph off the bat with a 43% hard-hit rate, numbers that help explain why the organization is prepared to move him quickly.

That production has come while Bolte has played primarily center field, and it comes as the Athletics continue to sort out an outfield mix that has not settled cleanly. Denzel Clarke has been out with a bone bruise in his left foot, Tyler Soderstrom and Lawrence Butler have been below expectations this season, and Zack Gelof has been getting time in center field along with his infield work. Bolte’s promotion, then, is not just a reward for a hot month. It is a response to a roster that needed another bat and another center-field option, and it comes at a time when the club appears ready to let him play through growing pains instead of using him in a limited role.

Bolte has also climbed onto prospect lists around the game, ranking fifth among Athletics prospects at MLB.com, seventh at Baseball America and tenth at FanGraphs. Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper wrote that Bolte is still a bit too prone to getting beaten in the zone but has developing power and can absolutely punish in-zone mistakes, a concise description of the risk and upside that now follow him to the majors. The timing matters too: if he sticks, he will be controllable six more years beyond this season, but a May promotion means he will qualify as a Super Two player if he stays up. For the Athletics, that is the tradeoff built into bringing up a player who has already forced the issue.