That is, if Thomas Soto of Round Rock, Tex. doesn’t end up playing summer baseball at a much higher level than the Western Canadian Baseball League in the future.
Soto -- a 5-foot-10, 175-pound switch hitter out of the Round Rock Dragons high school program and Action Baseball U18 summer squad -- is currently in his senior year of high school but has committed to play for the Dayton University Flyers in the spring of 2022.
That’s a significant step for the 17-year-old shortstop specialist, as Dayton is an NCAA Division I school that plays out of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
While in-depth statistics for Round Rock’s Texas Division 25 6A league are unavailable, Soto is listed as one of the Dragons top returning starters, having hit .222 and knocked in six runs during the abbreviated spring campaign of 2020, where Round Rock played only 15 games.
Scouts with Prep Baseball Report were impressed with Soto in his showing at an Action Baseball Scout Day in 2019, describing him as “a switch hitter who has loose hands from both sides of the plate with whip in the barrel… an aggressive hack with lift and quick hands.”
In the field, Soto “plays through the ball aggressively, with sometimes flashy actions that catch your eye, but there is still the substance that recruiters look for with smooth footwork, tempo, soft hands, fast exchange on double plays, and the ability to throw from different slots with carry over to first.”
You can check out a handful of recruiting videos of Soto in action in the field and at the plate by clicking here, here and here.
The Moose Jaw Miller Express open their WCBL season on Friday, May 28 when they host the Medicine Hat Mavericks at Ross Wells Park.
