Turlock High alum Tyler Soderstrom earns invite to Oakland Athletics spring training
Despite not appearing in a single minor league baseball game last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Turlock High alum and 2020 Oakland Athletics first-round draft pick Tyler Soderstrom received a non-roster invite to the team’s spring training, which began Wednesday for pitchers and catchers.
Full-squad workouts begin on Feb. 22 for the A’s.
Soderstrom, who was drafted No. 26 overall, is ranked as the team’s No. 2 prospect by the Athletic’s Keith Law and No. 3 by MLB.com.
Here is Law’s scouting report:
“The early consensus on Soderstrom from instructs is that he can really, really hit, and that he really isn’t a catcher. The A’s will probably continue to develop him there in the short term, but if his bat is as advanced as it appears — he has a good swing, a pretty sound approach, and shows plus power in BP — they’ll have more incentive to move him to third base so he can play every day and avoid some of the wear and tear of the backstop position.”
Soderstrom participated at the A’s alternate site last summer and impressed the organization.
“He was much better all-around than I thought,” A’s Director of Player Development Ed Sprague said in an interview with MiLB.com last December. “He’s definitely beyond his years in terms of his approach at the plate hitting-wise. His catching was better than I’d seen on video. … He improved quite a bit over the course of the summer. He’s got plus power, and he’s got hit-ability too. He uses the whole field. He takes pitches, he fouls them off, he sees the ball really well.”
He’s expected to begin the minor league baseball season with the Arizona League Athletics (Rookie affiliate).
Three other Turlock alums will be at Spring Training as well.
Right-handed pitcher Blake Cederlind is on the Pittsburgh Pirates 40-man roster and infielder Kevin Kramer is a non-roster invite by the club. Catcher Brett Bumberland is also a non-roster invite by the Baltimore Orioles.
