Two ballplayers from the 209 have been putting on a fireworks show through the first two weeks of the 2025 Major League Baseball season.
On Monday night, Turlock High graduate Tyler Soderstrom blasted a pair of solo home runs in the Athletics’ 5-4 loss to the San Diego Padres at Sutter Health Park. His total on the season is now six, which ties Linden native and reigning American League Most Valuable Player Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees with the most across all of baseball.
Monday’s performance also marked the 23-year-old’s second career multi-homer game, the first being on Opening Day against the Mariners in Seattle.
According to the MLB research team, Soderstrom became just the third player in the Athletics' storied franchise history to have two multi-homer games through the team’s first 11 games of the season, joining Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson in 1974 and Joe Hauser in 1928. Additionally, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com shared that the Turlock native has become the first A’s player age 23 or younger since all-star Matt Olson in 2017 to have multiple two-home run games in a season.
“I just feel like I just keep getting better,” Soderstrom said in his postgame media availability. “I keep maturing and getting older and kind of learning my swing and myself. I’ve just been able to control the zone and put good swings on good pitches.”
Soderstrom’s first home run of the night came in the third inning against starter Michael King, who delivered a low fastball to the left-handed slugger. The former Bulldog standout and 26th overall pick in the 2020 draft pulled it, sending an 111.7 mph line drive a projected 385 feet away into the team’s bullpen.
His second long ball came in the seventh frame, in which he drilled a Jeremiah Estrada fastball that caught a bit too much of the plate roughly 389 feet to the lawn area of the ballpark. The consensus among many is that Sutter Health Park, the full-time home to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, is small compared to other stadiums across the league. Statcast technology showed that it didn’t really matter on that home run, as it would’ve been gone in all 30 venues.
Between the four big league games in West Sacramento this year and his time in the minor leagues over the previous three seasons, Soderstrom has five home runs at the ballpark.
“As you can see, I feel like it’s pretty hitter-friendly. I’ve seen a lot of home runs, a lot of balls that are getting close to the wall. So it’s going to be hitter-friendly, and I think there'll be a lot of home runs (moving forward), for sure.”
While Soderstrom has found personal success at the park and across the league this year, the same can’t be said for the team itself. They are tied for last place alongside the Mariners in the AL West with 4-7 records, and have yet to win a game at their planned temporary home in Northern California.
The A’s have been outscored 40-13 at home this year.
Just as he did following his Opening Day power surge, Soderstrom opted to turn the spotlight away from himself and reiterated his desire to help the team win games.
“Obviously, we got swept by the Cubs (at home), and now we’re down to the Padres… I’m just trying to go out there and help my team win, so the homers are nice, but I’m not focussed on those. I’m just trying to do the best we can to get some wins.”
