Skye Bolt had a tough decision to make last summer coming out of Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School in Atlanta — go pro or go to college.
Fortunately for the North Carolina baseball team, he chose the latter, and he said his choice came down to one word — family.
“I had the opportunity to go,” Bolt said, “But the family here with coach Fox, I didn’t find it anywhere else. I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys. That’s what drew me here.”
Not only did Bolt have an opportunity to go, but he had a chance to go fairly high in the Major League Baseball first-year player draft. Ranked as the No. 39 high school prospect by Baseball America for the 2012 draft, Bolt turned down a lot of money to enroll at North Carolina.
Now that he’s here, members of that baseball family who persuaded the six-foot-two, sweet-swinging outfielder to come from his hometown of Woodstock, Ga., to Chapel Hill couldn’t be happier about what he brings to the team.
“I think he’s a threat at the plate in a lot of ways: He can bunt, he can run, and he certainly has shown some power for us,” assistant coach Scott Jackson said.
Bolt’s budding power was unleashed Tuesday afternoon in the second game of UNC’s inter-squad Fall World Series. Bolt turned on a 1-2 delivery from fellow freshman Trent Thornton and roped the ball over the right field fence for his first home run in Boshamer Stadium.
“I saw the pitch, recognized it, and happened to get my hands through the zone,” Bolt recalled. “Put the barrel on it and got some good backspin on it, so it was a good feeling.”
Bolt’s most valuable asset, other than his memorable name, is his speed.