The Key to Tyler Soderstrom's Breakout Year with the A's

A's left fielder Tyler Soderstrom announced himself immediately when the season began, going 7-for-15 (.467) with three home runs against a terrific pitching club in the Seattle Mariners. For the first few weeks of the season he was one of the league's home run leaders, having blasted nine by April 17. It took him nearly a month to hit number ten.

During that span of time, the A's called up rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz, which pushed Soderstrom out to left field--a position he'd never played. As he has gotten more comfortable in the oufield, his home run swing has also started to return, belting five homers in July and four so far in August.

On the year the 23-year-old has 23 home runs, but he's also developed into an incredibly effective hitter at the plate--he's just being overshadowed by some of the other bats in the lineup. Right now that would be Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers, two of the top hitters in baseball in the second half.

Not too far behind them is Soderstrom, who ranks No. 15 in MLB on the wRC+ leaderboard with a 165 wRC+ since July 24. The A's are 21-10 in that span. Langeliers is ranked No. 4 (185) thanks in part to his 15 home runs and Kurtz (No. 1) is getting on base at a .492 clip over the past month which has led to a 218 wRC+.

Soderstrom has five home runs and is batting .333 with a .403 OBP, with the averaging ranking fifth and the on-base sitting 12th in all of baseball in that span.

A's manager Mark Kotsay noted that the big change for Soderstrom this season has been utilizing the whole field. "It's key to seeing his average go from the .240s to the .270s. There's a lot of hits that way, and it's also going to open up the pull side when they realize that he can hit a baseball to the left side of the diamond. They're not going to be able to shift him as much, and that creates more holes for him."

This season his opposite field hitting has taken a big jump, going from 24.1% last year to 27.1% this year, ranking him 34th out of 153 qualified hitters. Last year's rate would have him ranked 79th. While that may not seem like a huge difference, when coupled his rate of going up the middle at 37%, that's a good deal of ground that the defense has to cover since he's spraying the ball all over the field.

He's also upped his line drive rate from 13.1% last year to 19.7% while keeping his average exit velo (91.6 mph) consistent.

Soderstrom has also trimmed his strikeout rate by 2.3% this season in a larger sample size, while keeping his walk rate consistent. He's just having an all-around terrific season. Given that this is his first full big league season after stints in the big leagues the past two years, this may not even be the best that he has to show A's fans just yet.

A's Soderstrom is a core player for this club

Around the Trade Deadline, we also asked Kotsay about what skills and traits make a core player for the club, and he gave Soderstrom a bit of love.

"Well, you play every day. You contribute to the success of the club both offensively and defensively. You don't have to carry the team for any amount of time, you just are a solid contributor. Someone that fits that bill, you look at our roster, and Tyler Soderstrom is one of those guys if he just goes out and continues to put up solid numbers.

"Those are guys that are core players. Yeah, they can have a big year, but you're penciling them in for .250 and 20-25 (home runs), 70 (RBI), and good defense. That's the type of player you have to have on a championship type team."

It's also important to note that when the A's called up Kurtz, who is now the presumed AL Rookie of the Year, Soderstrom went out to left field with no complaints, even though he too is a former first round selection of the A's and has been with the club for a longer period of time. That kind of selflessness is also important for the A's ever-evolving roster.

There are players that would have been moved off of their position and just completely struggled for the entirety of the season or had their mood impact the clubhouse, but Soderstrom has truly been thriving these past two months. In August specifically, he's batting .360 with a .427 OBP and a 1.020 OPS, ranking ninth in MLB. Just ahead of him in seventh is Langeliers (1.043), and just behind him in 11th is Kurtz with a 1.014.

Soderstrom's willingness to do what it takes for the team to have success may be what makes them a feared club in the years to come.