Scouting report: A’s prospect Tyler Soderstrom

MiLB.com's Scouting Report series spotlights players who are just starting their professional careers, focusing on what the experts are projecting for these young phenoms. Here's a look at top-ranked A’s prospect Tyler Soderstrom. For more player journeys on The Road to The Show, click here.

The A’s seem to have struck gold in their own backyard.

After a decorated prep career at Turlock High School just about 90 miles east of Oakland Coliseum, Tyler Soderstrom could very well be the steal of the 2020 Draft. The early returns are more than promising, and the club’s top prospect seems like he’ll have a future as successful as his past and present in northern California.

Soderstrom, whose father, Steve, was a Giants’ first-rounder in 1993, was named the 2020 Gatorade California Baseball Player of the Year for 2019-20. He batted .364 over nine games with the U.S. National Team at the 2019 World Baseball Softball Confederation U-18 Baseball World Cup. The slugging catcher was ticketed to go much higher in the Draft than where the A’s were slotted at No. 26, perhaps even across the Bay to his father’s former franchise.

But even when San Francisco tabbed Patrick Bailey to be the first backstop off the board at No. 13, it still would have been difficult to imagine Soderstrom would be available to the A’s.

“If you had asked me going into it whether this would happen, I would have been surprised,” A’s scouting director Eric Kubota told MLB.com after the Draft. “But things seemed to align for us and we were fortunate. We think he’s one of the premier high school bats in this Draft and has a chance to impact the game defensively behind the plate.”

Ultimately, Soderstrom, now the No. 80 overall prospect, fell right into the laps of Kubota and the A’s. It took an above-slot bonus of $3.30 million to get him to forego his commitment to UCLA and jump right into pro ball.

Soderstom’s history with the A’s extends beyond his roots in the area. Merced, Calif. native Daulton Jefferies, the A’s fourth-ranked prospect, worked out with the young backstop at Steve Soderstrom’s Backyard Sports Academy in Turlock.

“I’ve been throwing to him since he was a freshman in high school and he’s very interactive,” Jefferies told MLB.com after the Draft. “He asks questions, gives feedback, wants to learn. Every time I throw a bullpen, he wants to be the one catching it. You don’t see a lot of high school kids who are as attentive and detail-oriented as he is, but that’s what got him to this position. He’s a humble, hard-working kid that is a perfect fit for Oakland, and I can’t wait to throw to him for years to come.”

A dozen will do it.

Top @Athletics prospect Tyler Soderstrom hits his 12th homer of the season on the 12th pitch of this at-bat for @stocktonports. pic.twitter.com/C1xAwhoWff

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 24, 2021

Coming out of high school, scouts praised Soderstrom’s advanced approach and feel for the strike zone while also noting an ability to impact the baseball that can someday translate into considerable in-game power.

Since then, Soderstrom has done just about everything to live up to his offensive profile. And, of course, he’s doing it just 45 miles north of his hometown for Low-A Stockton.

The 19-year-old entered the week batting .306/.390/.568 with 12 homers, 20 doubles and 49 RBIs for the Ports. He ranks third in the Low-A West in slugging and OPS (.957).

“Tyler is a beast,” A’s assistant general manager Billy Owens told MLB.com in June. “He’s one of the best pure hitters to come through our system in the 23 years I’ve worked here.”

It was on the strength of his bat that Soderstrom was invited to play in the 2021 Futures Game at Coors Field. He struck out in his lone at-bat against Cubs’ right-hander Manuel Rodriguez but was the second-youngest player there after 18-year-old Yankees prospect Jasson Dominguez.

The consistent question mark for the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Soderstrom has been his defensive future. His arm and athleticism grade out very well. But he did not start behind the plate in high school, and his blocking, receiving and game management skills made some scouts wonder whether he might be better off at third base or in an outfield spot.

The A’s, however, have remained confident in his ability to stick behind the plate.

“I think every scout for the Oakland A’s thinks he’s a catcher,” Kubota told MLB.com after the Draft. “He has a strong desire to catch, and that’s more than half the battle. He’s got an advanced knowledge about the position for his age. We think all the ingredients are there to be a very good catcher.”

So far in 324 1/3 innings as a backstop, Soderstrom has committed six errors while new rules in Low-A limiting pickoff attempts have kept his arm busy with 15 of 70 (21.4 percent) would-be basestealers thrown out.

“I do think he has the skill set to catch,” A’s director of player development Ed Sprague told MLB.com in June. “He’s definitely improved. There were some times in the past where he looked overmatched, in terms of blocking. He improved a lot when we were able to get him around our catching coordinator Gabe Ortiz and drill him out on a daily basis.”

Odds are that Soderstrom will enter the Majors as a bat-first prospect. But it sure is one entertaining bat.

@stocktonports pic.twitter.com/tXJYJ0PVF0

— Tyler Soderstrom (@tylersode) June 4, 2021

The next steps up the ladder will take Soderstrom out of northern California. But if the bat remains consistent for the Stanislaus County native, all roads will lead back home.

Here's what the experts at MLB Pipeline have to say about Soderstrom:

Scouting grades (20-80 scale)

HIT: 60
POWER: 50
RUN: 50
ARM: 60
FIELD: 45
OVERALL: 55

“The son of Steve Soderstrom, a former big league pitcher who was the sixth-overall pick in the 1993 Draft by the Giants out of Fresno State, Tyler carved out his own path as one of the top high school catchers in California. Concerns from teams over whether he would sign out of high school or continue his amateur career at UCLA led to him dropping to No. 26 to the A’s, who went nearly $650,000 above pick value to sign him for $3.3 million in 2020.

Soderstrom’s offense is ahead of his defense at this point. The left-handed hitting catcher has an offensive game that is quite mature for a 19-year-old, with supreme strike zone recognition and plenty of pop in his bat. Though there was talk of a potential move to third base or outfield in the future, the A’s saw a solid improvement behind the plate both at the club’s alternate site and in the instructional league and expect him to stick at catcher.

How Soderstrom progresses with his blocking and game management -- two areas he is still raw in -- will determine his long-term position. He has already shown off a strong arm, which helps his cause.”