Soderstrom fills the bill in Oakland’s draft plan
Though the MLB Draft has been chopped from 40 rounds to five, A’s officials kept a consistent strategy in adding to a farm system ranked 14th among MLB teams.
“We’re looking for the five best players,” A’s general manager David Forst said in the days leading up to the draft. Equipped with the 26th overall pick in the 2020 draft that kicked off Wednesday night remotely, the A’s went local, selecting Tyler Soderstrom out of Turlock High.
Soderstrom is the son of former San Giants first-round pick Steve Soderstrom. Tyler and Steve are the 10th father-son duo to be drafted in the first round in MLB history.
Soderstrom is a 6-foo-2, 190-pound California Gatorade
Player of the Year. He hit .450 with four home runs and a 1.340 OPS his junior year, then .357 with one home run in five games before the coronavirus suspended his senior season. He’s a strong bat despite the seven home runs to high high school resume.
“I am confident I can catch at the next level,” Soderstrom told this newspaper recently. “I know I can also play a corner or in the outfield. I’m happy to play anywhere on the field to get my bat in lineup. My bat is my biggest tool and being able to play a lot of different positions defensively is one of my biggest strengths.”
Soderstrom is committed to play baseball at UCLA, so the A’s may need to pay over slot to keep him in Northern California.
The A’s will make their final four selections on Thursday before the $20,000 contract offer bonanza begins at 6 a.m. PT on Monday, June 14 — meaning, the A’s will be competing with the other 29 teams to lure any number of un-drafted amateur players into their system for a capped amount.
“A lot of guys expecting to go somewhere are going to be left out, and they’re going to have a decision to make about going back to school or signing,” Forst said. “The dynamic of having the $20,000 cap on signing bonuses is going to change some of the conversations. Players are going to have multiple offers of the same amount of money.”
The A’s have a total $5,241,000 bonus pool allotment for this draft, teams are limited to paying out a maximum of $100,000 to each draft pick in 2020. It’s unclear when and where he might first suit up as a rookie.
“I don’t think there’s any expectation that these guys are going to play anywhere this year,” Forst said. “Minor league season is up in the air. Rumor son instructional league are way down the line, you go in with expectation that you get these guys ready for 2021.”
The newly-shortened MLB draft compounded with the restrictions imposed by a suspended baseball season across the board made this process particularly difficult for big league teams, A’s included.
The A’s treasured draft room tradition moved remotely. Scouts, in preparing for the draft, were left to pore over film and data accumulated over previous seasons. Key face-to-face interactions with players, their families and coaches were shut off with scouts unable to catch key glimpses of players live at games.
“(Scouting director) Eric (Kubota) has done a great job putting the board together under these circumstances,” Forst said. “Like everything these days, it’s different.”