Tyler Soderstrom, a catching prospect for the Oakland Athletics, had a poor major league start the previous season. After being called up during the All Star Break, he hit.160/.232/.240 in 45 games. After a dismal performance in spring training, the A’s assigned him to Triple-A to begin the season, which came as a bit of a surprise. He’s improved significantly in 2024 thus far. Since our previous meeting in Las Vegas, he’s up to.250/.342/.540 and his plate discipline has somewhat improved. Though he’s still not a reliable defensive catcher, the bat is slowly but steadily improving. Soderstrom ought to have the chance to return to Oakland at some point this year in order to establish his credentials. After first baseman Ryan Noda was sent to Triple-A last week, Soderstrom is probably just one or two injuries away from having another opportunity to return to the major leagues. But will he benefit from it? When he does return, where will he play? Although Soderstrom has been playing behind the plate in Las Vegas, he is hardly playable at catcher, as demonstrated by the small sample size between Oakland and this year’s spring training. In his three months of action in 2023, he was among the worst framing catchers in the league and lacked Shea Langeliers’ powerful arm. He’s not athletic enough to play in the outfield, so most nights he’ll probably be learning first base or filling in as the designated hitter. But if that’s the case, he needs to get better with his bat. So far, his slash line has been good enough for a Triple-A 112 wRC+. To compensate for his lack of defensive ability, he will need to hit at least that well if he is to be a productive major leaguer. A significant obstacle to Soderstrom’s comeback is the evidence that Kyle McCann can play in the major leagues. Despite just making 28 plate appearances, he has excellent plate discipline and solid defensive play behind the plate, hitting.375/.464/.625 in those games. Soderstrom has almost little chance of staying at catcher in Oakland if it keeps up. However, if he can demonstrate his hitting ability, that doesn’t imply he can’t play major league ball. Soderstrom will be a valuable member of this Athletics club if he can carry over some of his Triple-A success into the majors. The A’s need that to be the case because his trade worth will drastically decrease if he is not selected in a second call-up. Soderstrom needs to do well for the A’s. It doesn’t matter if he bats well enough for them to deal him for future value or if he will be an impact bat for them in the future. For the lefty, this is a make-or-break year. It’s going nicely so far. Let’s see whether that holds true.
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