​If the A’s have a terrific second half reversing all bad trends, we will be able to look at this “unauthorized coaching” article as the springboard that vaulted the team back to relevancy. Obviously, if the team continues to sputter, who reads junk on the internet anyway?The All-Star break offers a natural “reset” and no team could use one more than the A’s, who limped, tripped, and plunged into a well even Lassie couldn’t help with, dropping 9 in a row and 17 of 20 to achieve the impossible: falling off the radar in the AL West.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHopefully, Zack Gelof’s and Nick Kurtz’ IL stints will be minimal and soon the A’s will be at least near full strength again in terms of their roster. But how to squeeze more out of a roster that struggled to hit (on the road), pitch (at home), and led for 6 pitches on the last 6 game road trip.Here’s some of how (if you know these folks feel free to pass these pearls along)…Henry BolteFor whatever reason, possibly involving head movement and/or swinging too much with the top half and not properly aligning the bottom half, most every time Bolte pulls the ball it’s on the ground. This worked fine for a while as he beat out a bevy of weak bouncers and some of the harder ones got through the infield, but it is not a sustainable profile.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThis was shown in the slump Bolte took into the All-Star break, 6 for his last 50 with just one extra base hit (a HR). That a .120 BA and .180 SLG.The solution: Even if he can’t adjust your mechanics easily mid-season, simply a change in approach can allow Bolte to return to being an offensive force in the 2nd half. During his epic 12 for 12 XBH-a-palooza at AAA just before being called up, Bolte was rifling balls to RF and right-center. This has always been, and continues to be, his best swing.Pitchers are exploiting Bolte’s desire to “turn on pitches” by running a lot of fastballs in on the hands and Bolte is responding by chopping a lot of weak ground balls to 3B and SS. Sliders and changeups away, unless hung, have never been good pitches to try to pull.Bolte should embrace his strength and think “right-center”. This will have many positive repercussions all at once. One is that he will naturally become less interested in pitches that are in off the plate, curing him of one way pitchers are getting him out a lot lately. Another is that an off-field swing/approach allows hitters to see pitches that fraction of a second longer, resulting in generally better swing decisions. A third is that it plays to Bolte’s inherent strength rather than trying, in real time, to master a part of his game that does not come easily.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe beauty is that when you focus on your strength and it results in a lot of hard contact, more slugging, increased success, not only is it a confidence booster but pitchers lose a “way to get you out” and are forced to th