Athletics 2024 Season In Review: Tyler Soderstrom
A top prospect continues to try finding his way in the majors
Today we take a look at one of the Athletics’ top young players who was the club’s top prospect just last year. That player is none other than first baseman/catcher Tyler Soderstrom.
How was he acquired?
The club added Tyler Soderstrom with their first round draft pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. The consensus #2 catching prospect in the draft (behind San Francisco’s Patrick Bailey, who went 13th overall), the Athletics took Soderstrom at #26, adding what many considered to be the catcher of the future, even with incumbent Sean Murphy on the roster. Soderstrom was selected out of Turlock High School in California so it was going to be a bit of a wait for him to rise the minor league ranks. The lefty smasher was prepared to go to UCLA but instead signed with the A’s for $3.3MM, which at the time was the largest signing bonus for a prep catcher in the bonus-pool era.
What were the expectations?
When the club selected Soderstrom they knew that he wouldn’t be able to play that year since it was in the midst of the COVID pandemic and minor league baseball was cancelled. He began the next season at Low-A and looked like the hitter the club drafted but a back injury ended his first year of pro ball. The next season in 2022 he started out in High-A and continued to tear the cover off the ball, earning a promotion to Double-A before the year was out. For being drafted as a high schooler, he was rising the ranks fast by reaching Double-A as a 20-year old.
The next year he predictably started the year out at Triple-A. With the major league club having just traded Murphy to the Braves for another young catcher in Shea Langeliers there was some puzzlement as to why the organization targeted a catcher in trade talks when the team had their young, 1st-round pick rapidly approaching the majors. While the lefty slugger was swatting home runs he was also struggling with strikeout problems, and his glove was beginning to show a lack of development behind the plate for how fast he was rising. Sure enough, the team began trying out the now-21-year old at first base since the team now had Langeliers on board for the foreseeable future.
The Turlock native was having a fine season at Triple-A Las Vegas but for hitting in a hitter-friendly environment he was also showing worrying signs with his hitting approach. He got more than his fair share of home runs but was also striking out a lot, though it’s important to remember he was young for that level. He was selected as the Athletics’ representative at the 2023 All-Stars Futures Game alongside breakout outfielder Lawrence Butler. Soderstrom went 1-for-2 with a walk in that contest while manning first base for the AL side, a sign of things to come for the catcher.
With the 2023 season falling apart quickly fans began wondering how long it would take for him to get the call. Well the answer was three and a half months. The club selected him to the active roster on July 14th and he was in the lineup that very same night. He went 0-for-3 in his debut as a DH but collected his first two hits the next day. His cup of coffee, which lasted all of 45 games, did not go smoothly and did not inspire confidence as the rookie lefty hit a paltry .160/.232/.240 with a rough 43/11 KK/BB ratio, though he did manage to collect his first three career home runs so we at least got a taste of that lefty power.
Entering 2024 expectations were definitely raised. While he is still very young for this league his first go-around with the A’s left a lot to be desired. The club needed to see some improvement, especially in the batting department if he’s going to be moved off of catcher in deference to Langeliers. Entering the year the club had Ryan Noda at first base and Brent Rooker at DH so he would really need to force the Athletics’ hand to bring him back without a clear position to play him at.
2024 Results
Soderstrom entered camp with a shot to make the Opening Day roster. Instead he struggled with the bat all spring and was sent back to Triple-A for everyday at-bats and to work on his defense behind the plate and at first base. It wasn’t until mid-May that the club recalled him from the minor leagues, and that was due to the club essentially giving up on incumbent first baseman Noda, also a lefty hitter but without the power potential of Sodey. First base was now open for Soderstrom to get a real, full long look in the majors.
For a while. The left-handed hitter was playing just about everyday when he suffered a bone bruise in his left wrist, an injury which has a notable history for messing with hitters’ timing and power. At the time of the injury Sodey was batting just .219/.307/.404 with seven long balls over 49 games at the time of the injury, continuing his struggles against major league pitching. That wrist injury essentially ruined his 2024 season as he would struggle to get over that bad bone bruise which cost him about two months. He finally did make it back to the Athletics in mid-September after missing the previous month and a half. Encouragingly, he looked a lot better in the batter’s box when he returned, hitting .279/.340/.512 with a couple long balls in 12 games. Another small sample size but also the first real success Soderstrom has had in the majors. That can only help his confidence as he finishes the offseason and prepares for another crack at it next year. He finished the year with a .233/.315/.429 line with 10 long balls to boot.
2025 Outlook
Still just 23 years old, Soderstrom still has a bright future ahead of him. Whether that’s as the slugging catcher the team envisioned when they drafted him five years ago is looking murky at best and unlikely at worst after he only played one game there for the A’s this past year. There’s no doubt that fellow catcher Shea Langeliers is the starting backstop, which means if Soderstrom is on this team come April he’ll be manning first base since the DH role belongs to the recently extended Brent Rooker. And whether or not Soderstrom can lay claim to the everyday job will depend on how he handles left-handed pitching. Sodey actually had somewhat reverse splits in 2024, slashing .300/.364/.400 against left-handed pitching, though with no home runs and in a miniscule sample size of just 20 at-bats. The club is going to want to see if he can keep that up against same-handed pitching for a longer period of time and spring training will help the club determine if he can handle lefties. If not, the former 1st-round draft pick will be splitting time at first base with the right-handed Miguel Andujar as a platoon. Not the ideal start for his career but there is ample time for him to get it going in what could be his first full year as a major leaguer.