A hitless major league debut on Friday night didn’t faze 21-year-old Turlock native Tyler Soderstrom for the remainder of his week as the Oakland Athletics wrapped up their series with the Minnesota Twins and began a three-game set with the Boston Red Sox. Through his first four games as a big leaguer, Soderstrom has gone 3 for 13 with 2 walks in 15 plate appearances.
In his second career game on Saturday evening, the Turlock native became the second-youngest player to start at catcher in the history of the storied Oakland Athletics franchise at 21 years, 233 days. The youngest is Scott Meyer, who caught on Sept. 26, 1978 at the age of 21 years, 38 days.
On the offensive side, Soderstrom hit sixth in the lineup and went 2 for 4, grabbing his first career hit in the sixth inning of Oakland’s 10-7 loss to the Twins. The ball, which was delivered by Twins All-Star starter Pablo Lopez, was a slow roller to third base off a check swing, quickly ruled an infield single by the official MLB scorers.
The ball from his first career hit was immediately retrieved from the field and taken into the Athletics dugout to get authenticated by MLB officials. The ball was given to Soderstrom after the game, and was later gifted to his father, Steve.
“I got the ball back, gave it to my dad that night at dinner, and yeah, I didn’t really draw that one up in my head as my first major league hit, but they all count,” he joked. “I only have one stolen base in Vegas, so I don’t think my [speed] rating is going up because of it.”
His second hit of the game was a knock to left field in the eighth inning, marking his first career multi-hit game.
In his third career game on Sunday afternoon, Soderstrom’s youth was once again a talking point amongst those in the press box at the Oakland Coliseum. He batted fifth in the A’s lineup and started the game at first base, becoming the second-youngest starting first baseman in Athletics history at 21 years, 234 days. The youngest is Mike Davis, who played the corner position for Oakland on July 18, 1980 at the age of 21 years, 37 days.
On the mound for the Twins on Sunday was Stanislaus State alumnus Joe Ryan.
“I know he went to Stan State, but never met him personally,” Soderstrom said ahead of the highly anticipated matchup. “It will be cool to face him and it should be a good game.”
And a good game it was, as the Twins eventually squeaked by with a 5-4 win to cap off a three-game sweep.
Against Ryan, a native of San Francisco playing in the Bay Area for the first time in his professional career, Soderstrom went 1 for 2, with a single and walk. He finished 1 for 3 in his four plate appearances on the day.
Ryan exited the game with his team in a 3-2 deficit, with all three runs earned off of five hits and three walks while striking out seven. He avoided a loss on his record as a bases clearing double by Alex Kirilloff in the seventh inning gave the Twins a 5-3 advantage at the time.
When the Red Sox came to town on Monday, Soderstrom was back in the DH role just as he was in his debut on Friday.
In 2019 and early 2020, Boston heavily scouted Soderstrom as a high schooler at Turlock High School and strongly considered taking him with the 17th pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. Instead, they chose second baseman Nick Yorke, who is currently in Double-A Portland, while the A's snagged Soderstrom 26th overall.
Batting in the middle of Oakland’s batting order in the five-hole against Boston, he and the A’s were on the wrong end of a record-breaking relief performance by Nick Pivetta, who set a franchise record for most strikeouts by a reliver with 13 in their 7-0 victory, extending Oakland’s losing streak to eight.
The Turlocker did not play on Tuesday night in the second game against the Sox, a game the A’s won 3-0.
Oakland manager Mark Kotsay spoke about what he has seen from Soderstrom at the plate through his first four games.
“Tyler took some good at-bats, took some walks, which shows good signs, good patience in that approach,” the first-year manager said.
The series against the Red Sox wraps up at 12:37 p.m. on Wednesday. On Thursday, the A’s will continue their long homestand with the start of a four-game divisional series against the reigning World Series champion Houston Astros.
