Oakland Athletics: Tyler Soderstrom to be a part of 60-man player pool
By Justin Fried
The Oakland Athletics will have 2020 first-round pick Tyler Soderstrom on their 60-man player pool.
The Oakland Athletics may have snagged one of the steals of the 2020 MLB Draft — at least from a talent perspective — in first-round pick Tyler Soderstrom.
Soderstrom surprisingly fell all the way to pick No. 26 where the A’s made sure to snatch him up before he fell any further. It’s likely that Soderstrom fell as far as he did due to the hefty signing bonus he was commanding.
But the usually stingy A’s went against all of their previous draft philosophies and selected the talented high school catcher with their first-round pick paying him a sizable $3.3 million signing bonus — well above the slot demand.
And on Monday, the Turlock native officially signed his contract forgoing his commitment to UCLA — something the A’s were confident would happen when they drafted him.
And he isn’t going to have to wait long before he starts mixing it up with major-leaguers.
Tyler Soderstrom is expected to be added to the Oakland Athletics’ 60-man player pool.
Per a report by MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos, the A’s have officially added Soderstrom to their 60-man player pool and he’s expected to report to what’s being called “Spring Training 2.0” this week.
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There, Soderstrom will have the opportunity to train alongside some of the A’s best players and while he won’t see any actual MLB action this season, any extra development he could get is crucial.
With the cancellation of the minor-league season, teams all around the MLB are opting to include some of their top prospects on their 60-man player pools.
The Athletics themselves made headlines last week when it was reported that they were expected to carry 17-year-old shortstop Robert Puason on their 60-player roster. Now, the 18-year-old Soderstrom will join him.
A high-upside hitter, Soderstrom was considered a consensus top-15 player in this year’s draft class. Although he’s a catcher by trade, Soderstrom also has experience playing both corner infield and outfield positions so it’s unclear where his MLB future lies.
Either way, it’s clear how high the A’s are on him.
Normally a conservative team when it comes to young prospects, the A’s are fast-tracking Soderstrom to big-league camp. That comes after they decided to pay ell above slot value for a high-school player — the mist anti-A’s move imaginable.
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Oakland Athletics fans should be expecting big things from Soderstrom and they’ll get a chance to see him mix it up with some big-leaguers sooner than anyone could have imagined.