MINNEAPOLIS – As a kid, Tyler Soderstrom likely never dreamed of starring as a Major League outfielder. Now the former high school shortstop and professional catcher and first baseman is making a nice home for himself in left field.
And he still can hit, too.
Soderstrom went 4-for-4 and extended his career-best hitting streak to 19 games on Thursday as the Athletics completed a three-game sweep of the Twins at Target Field with an 8-3 victory.
Soderstrom got the hitting streak out of the way with a first-inning single. He added a double in the fourth and singles in the sixth and eighth innings for the first four-hit game of his career.
It was part of a memorable series for the 23-year old California native. Over three days in Minnesota, Soderstrom went 7-for-11 at the plate with two doubles, one home run and three walks. He also scored four runs, drove in another and struck out just once in 14 plate appearances.
“It shows I'm sticking to my approach,” Soderstrom said of those results. “You know, it can be easy to get away from that sometimes, so I've got to stay true to my zone.”
But even more impressive -- at least to his manager -- than his hitting has been his play in the outfield. After he’d played nothing but catcher and first base in the Athletics organization, Soderstrom found himself making the transition to left field this year, and he’s been a quick study out there.
“Tyler's had a lot of change this year,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “It's the growth that he's had as a left fielder, never having played in the outfield. Some of the plays he's made are reflective of somebody that's been out there for a while.”
Soderstrom credited Kotsay -- himself a former Major League outfielder -- and coach Bobby Crosby for helping ease the transition, as well as teammates Denzel Clarke and Lawrence Butler. But Crosby insists the credit belongs with Soderstrom.
“You're seeing the numbers that he's putting up on the defensive side. It's really good,” Crosby said. “It's pretty impressive in that short [an amount] of time to be able to say, ‘Well, now I'm one of the top outfielders in the American League,’ in the span of three months. And he's doing it because he's an ultra athlete. He wants to learn, he wants to grind.”
Soderstrom made eye-catching plays in all three games against the Twins. On Tuesday, he ended the game by racing in for a sliding catch. The next night, his leaping grab at the fence robbed Ryan Fitzgerald of extra bases. And on Thursday, he made a similar catch to retire Royce Lewis in the sixth inning.
He also almost made a circus catch against Lewis in the ninth inning. Soderstrom raced to the wall, got his glove on the ball as he crashed into the padding, then tumbled to the ground with the ball in his bare hand. The umpires ruled the ball had made contact with the wall, and a video review confirmed the call. But that didn’t make it any less of a jaw-dropping effort.
“That's an athletic play that he made,” Crosby said. “That's what makes him good out there. He's just a super athlete.”
By all accounts, Soderstrom has mastered most of the intricacies of left field -- when to charge, when to sit back, what angles to take -- in short order. The biggest challenge has been dealing with warning tracks, especially the larger track at Sutter Health Park.
“You're running back at the wall full speed sometimes, and you’ve got to know where you're at and where the wall is,” Soderstrom said. “So that's probably the biggest thing.”
Soderstrom’s progression has come as no surprise to Kotsay.
“I'm a big Tyler Soderstrom fan. I have been since we got him in the big leagues,” Kotsay said. “It's just been awesome to see him grow as a young man, both on and off the field. This [is the] type of season we knew was in front of him.”
Now the A’s, who have won eight of their past 11 games, head to Seattle to face a club battling for first place in the AL West.
“This is an in-division team that we've played really well,” Kotsay said. “Last time we were there, we split the opening series two and two. It’ll be a fun series to be a part of, and hopefully we can continue momentum.”