For many top prospects in baseball, adjusting to major league life takes time. It’s something Oakland Athletics manager Mark Kotsay, himself a former big leaguer of 17 years, understands well.
When Kotsay was first called up to Major League Baseball by the Florida Marlins in 1997, he slashed a dismal .192/.250/.250/.500 with 10 hits, 4 walks, 4 RBI and seven strikeouts in 57 plate appearances over 14 games. By the time he retired in 2013, he had slashed .276/.332/.404/.737 with 1,784 hits, 127 home runs, 554 walks and 720 RBI over 1,914 games.
In his second year as a major league manager, the 47-year-old Kotsay is dealing with those growing pains again, though he’s not the one who has them this time.
On July 14, the A’s called up No.1 prospect Tyler Soderstrom and No. 3 prospect Zack Gelof to the 26-man roster, each making their MLB debuts that night. Since then, each of the youngsters have had their share of ups and downs.
Soderstrom, the 21-year-old from Turlock, has played in 10 games for Oakland, slashing .161/.257/.161/.418 with five hits, four walks and one RBI while striking out 12 times over 31 at-bats and 35 plate appearances.
Gelof, a native of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware two years older than Soderstrom, has experienced a bit more success in his first official week in an A’s uniform. He is currently hitting .227/.306/.500/.806 with 10 hits, 4 walks, 2 home runs and 5 RBI in 49 plate appearances and 44 at-bats over 12 games.
“These young guys come here with a spotlight on them to a certain extent because they are talented prospects that are looked at as part of the future,” Kotsay said.
The Turlocker finally had his big moment in Sunday’s game against the Houston Astros, when he singled up the middle off Hunter Brown to score JJ Bleday and give the A’s a 2-1 lead. The Astros eventually came back to win thanks to a two-out, two-run home run from Mauricio Dubon in the ninth inning.
“It felt good to finally break through and help us take the lead there,” Soderstrom said. “Now I just have to try to keep it going and keep putting good at-bats together.”
“He can easily turn things around in a matter of a game or two,” Kotsay added. “It’s just a matter of making adjustments and selecting the right pitch to swing at.”
Opposing pitchers have attacked Soderstrom similarly. Other than 28 fastballs, the most common pitches he has seen are curveballs (21) and splitters (17). Those pitches have mostly been thrown down and inside the strike zone, in where Soderstrom has seen 14 strikes and has a swing-and-miss rate of 50%.
It’s quite the opposite story for Gelof, who has had an abundance of success against breaking balls but has trouble keeping up with the major league fastball. In the 20 offspeed pitches he has seen, Gelof has six hits and has not recorded an out. Meanwhile, 97 fastballs have been responsible for 38 outs, including a whopping 10 strikeouts, though he ran into a pair for his first two home runs of his career.
Former A’s pitcher and current team commentator Dallas Braden echoed similar sentiments as Kotsay on a recent broadcast preaching patience.
“The scouting report spreads fast at this level,” he said. “It’s all about having patience and getting in the groove of how these pitchers attack you and whether or not you can adjust… It takes time. It just takes time.”
As for Soderstrom’s fielding, he has split time between catcher and first base. Through his first 10 games, he has started three times behind the dish, two times at first, four games as a designated hitter and had one pinch-hitting appearance. Between his five games in the infield, which combine for 37 defensive innings played, he has a perfect fielding percentage.
“It’s been smooth behind the plate, playing first. I’ve done it all year. Same game, similar preparation,” he said. “Using PitchCom has been smooth. We’ve been using it in Vegas (Tuple-A), so I’ve got a good hang of it. You just gotta pretty much have all the buttons memorized by now, but I’m pretty confident back there, so I think I’ll be good with anyone.”
The A’s will finish off a three-game series with the Rockies on Saturday and Sunday at Coors Field in Colorado.
