A’s firstround pick undergoes catching strides
MESA, Ariz. — A caveat follows Tyler Soderstrom. He’s a catcher but might not stay one. His bat propelled him into the first round of last year’s draft, where the A’s selected him out of
Turlock. His defensive future, some suggest, could lie at another position.
It’s an idea Soderstrom has heard, but not one to which the 19yearold submits.
“My defense has definitely taken a big step,” Soderstrom told reporters on a recent video call. “And I’m kind of excited to show everyone, because I’ve gotten some knocks there.”
The A’s stated upon drafting Soderstrom that they saw him as a catcher and promptly sent him to their alternate site, where his advanced lefthanded swing impressed. Defensively, his education accelerated in fall instructional league, with minorleague catching coordinator Gabriel Ortiz.
They began, Ortiz said, with a basic. Soderstrom’s catching stance was high so they focused on lowering his setup, positioning him better to receive low pitches. He practiced receiving tosses barehanded and pitch after pitch from a machine. Ortiz gave realtime feedback during games.
“Working from zero,” Ortiz said.
Several weeks before spring training, Soderstrom returned to Arizona to resume their sessions. Blocking pitches in the dirt is an area he needs to improve, Ortiz said. His throwing arm is viewed as a strength. The A’s believe his physical abilities will improve with repetition.
“He’s listened, he’s open, he understands how much work he needed at that point behind the plate,” Ortiz said. “He’s put in the effort, the focus. And he’s hungry.”
At the alternate site, Soderstrom observed and faced players with major and minorleague time. In A’s camp this spring, he has caught Sean Manaea, Chris Bassitt and Mike Fiers, among others. He has not seemed overwhelmed, said bullpen and catchers coach Marcus Jensen.
“In a year’s time, he has made a lot of strides and progress,” Jensen said. “It’s a tall order to be 19 years old and come into bigleague camp and he’s seemed to handle that pretty well. So he appears to be fairly confident and it’s just a matter of continuing to build and refine.”
Hitting remains Soderstrom’s primary asset. His balance and pitch recognition drew praise last summer and A’s hitting coach Darren Bush noted his bat speed in batting practice this spring. Bush said he struggled to summon a comparison for Soderstrom’s “pretty violent” swing.
“He’s way beyond his years as far as the development of a hitter,” manager Bob Melvin said. “And when we talk about developing as a catcher, what is he, 19? So he’s got some time. But everything that I’ve asked him to do and my dialogue with him, he takes it and runs with it. … He doesn’t seem to be a kid that seems to be really nervous about anything.”
Soderstrom does have baseball lineage. His father, Steve, was a firstround pick by the Giants in 1993 out of Fresno State. A righthanded pitcher, his majorleague career comprised just three games. But Steve said he noted what elevated good players and, when his sons showed interest in baseball, he tried to help prepare them as best he could.
When Tyler was about 5, Steve started what’s now Backyard Sports Academy in Turlock. Steve is an almond farmer and the family ranch today includes two indoor sporting facilities — one housing three batting cages and mounds — as well as a baseball field that Steve built. A younger Tyler would hang around while his father gave pitching lessons and sometimes caught for older kids. He also played on teams with his brother, Tate, who is 2½ years older.
The Soderstroms spent hours in the batting cages, Steve said, starting when Tyler was about 8. Steve would typically lob soft toss before cranking up the pitching machine — sometimes to 80 mph from 46 feet away. They were purpose pitches of a different sort.
“Things aren’t going to go great all the time — that’s just baseball,” Steve said. “You’re going to go through times where you struggle. A lot of kids these days, they don’t struggle at all, and then the first time they do struggle you just don’t know how they’re going to react. So I always made it a point when we were hitting, it wasn’t just going to be easy.”
Tyler got frustrated at times but was persistent. Later, “If he had a game that didn’t go so well, he’d be like, ‘Can we go hit in the cage?’ ” Steve said. “And we’d say yep, let’s go.”
That approach could still apply. The arc for young catchers covers not only technique but more mental aspects, like scouting reports and calling games, that will pose challenges.
“He’s talked to me and said, ‘I want to stay behind the plate,’ ” Ortiz said of Soderstrom. “It’s not so much he wants to prove people wrong. He said, ‘I want to be good. I want to stay behind the plate because I love to be a catcher.’ ”