Congratulations are in order for Tyler Soderstrom, who, after several days of speculation, was finally officially promoted to the big leagues by the Oakland Athletics on Friday.
The 21-year-old catcher and first baseman, fresh off an appearance in the Futures Game, is now the third player with experience at New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series events to reach the majors, following Bo Naylor of the Cleveland Guardians and Grayson Rodriguez of the Baltimore Orioles.
Soderstrom was seen at the NorCal World Series in both 2018 and 2019, as well as a Pro Combine in his native California late in 2018.
Taken with the No. 26 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft as one of five FSS alums to go in the first round, the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder moved through their system extremely quickly, reaching Triple-A Las Vegas by the end of last season. It’s where he started this year, and he tore it up for the Aviators, hitting .254 with 20 homers and 59 RBI in his first 69 games before getting the call.
He is expected to make his MLB debut on Friday night at home against the Minnesota Twins.
According to MLB.com, “Soderstrom’s 113.5 mph max exit velocity — on an April 2 homer that traveled 466 feet — was tops among Las Vegas bats this season, and only Ryan Noda (113.9 mph) has hit a ball harder than among A’s Major Leaguers in 2023. His 91.4 average exit velo also led Aviators batters with more than five plate appearances, and his 46.2 percent hard-hit rate (i.e. percentage of balls hit at 95-plus mph) would trail only Brent Rooker’s 47.4 among Oakland hitters at the top level, were it to translate to The Show.”
