The Athletics aren’t taking the holidays off. They’ve reached an agreement with outfielder Tyler Soderstrom on a seven-year, $86MM extension, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Passan adds there’s a club option for 2033 and escalators that could push the contract value by another $45MM if the option is exercised. The deal buys out at least three free agent years and perhaps a fourth, keeping him under club control through his age-31 season.
Soderstrom becomes the latest core offensive piece the A’s have locked up on a long-term deal. They extended Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler on respective $60MM and $65.5MM guarantees last winter. Soderstrom tops those by a decent margin, becoming the largest contract in club history. Their three-year, $67MM free agent deal with Luis Severino had previously been the high-water mark.
The left-hitting Soderstrom was a first-round pick in 2020. He’d been an excellent offensive player dating back too high school.The biggest question was where he’d fit defensively. While Soderstrom was drafted as a catcher, most scouts felt he’d need to move off the position. That has largely been the case, as his only 15 MLB starts behind the dish came during his 2023 rookie season. The typical fallback for defensively challenged catchers is first base, and that’s where Soderstrom spent the early part of his big league tenure.
Soderstrom struggled over a 45-game sample as a rookie. His .233/.315/.429 slash across 213 plate appearances in 2024 was a critically important step forward but hadn’t yet placed him alongside Rooker, Butler, and Shea Langeliers as clear members of the A’s core. Soderstrom entered this year with some pressure from 2024 fourth overall pick Nick Kurtz, a college first baseman expected to quickly reach the majors.
