SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Oakland A's selected Turlock High School's Tyler Soderstrom with the 26th pick in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft Wednesday night.
Soderstrom played catcher at Turlock High School.
MLB.com analyst Jim Callis wrote of Soderstrom: "Tyler is one of the best all-around hitters in the high school class and good value at this spot in the Draft. The question is, do you develop him as a catcher, which will take longer and take a toll on his bat, or put him at third base and go all in on the offense? I’d vote for the latter because the bat is that good and he’s athletic enough to handle the hot corner."
Soderstrom committed to attend and play baseball at UCLA. In May, he was named the Gatorade California Baseball Player of the Year. He hit .450 with 4 home runs at Turlock High School last year. This year's season was only 5 games because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Tyler's father Steve, was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the first round of the 1993 draft. The A's said that they are the tenth father and son to be selected in the first round.
Tyler's brother Tate is an outfielder at the University of Arizona.
