MINNEAPOLIS -- Calling up Tyler Soderstrom last summer as a 21-year-old with only one full season of professional baseball under his belt was a risk. Still, the allure of his billing as one of the top prospects in MLB, combined with a strong start at Triple-A, was too good for the A¡¯s to pass up.

Upon receiving his first promotion to the Majors, Soderstrom appeared to be overmatched. He hit just .160 with a .472 OPS in 45 games with Oakland in 2023 and struck out 43 times over 138 plate appearances.

The A¡¯s have acknowledged that Soderstrom was not quite ready for the consistent high quality of big league pitching encountered at that time. Since then, they¡¯ve worked on fine-tuning his approach to give him the best shot for success at the highest level.

Patiently allowed by the A¡¯s to work through some struggles, Soderstrom is starting to flash the elite hitting traits that made him Oakland¡¯s No. 1 overall prospect for three straight seasons (2021-23). The first baseman extended his career-best hit streak to five games in Thursday¡¯s 6-2 loss to the Twins at Target Field by slugging a go-ahead two-run homer off Joe Ryan in the second inning.

¡°Great at-bat by Tyler,¡± said A¡¯s manager Mark Kotsay. ¡°He got us on the board and gave us a lead. The at-bats have been better. ¡­ He¡¯s showing great signs of maturity and growth. He¡¯s becoming the hitter that we know he can be.¡±

Beginning this season at Triple-A Las Vegas to continue his development, Soderstrom returned to the big leagues on May 8 and made an immediate impact, homering in his first game and hitting .318 (7-for-22) through his first seven games. Following that, however, was a 12-game stretch in which he collected just one hit in 24 at-bats.

The prolonged slump could have been enough for the A¡¯s to send Soderstrom back to the Minors for further refining. Instead, they continued giving him regular playing time at first base while getting him extra work with the A¡¯s hitting staff.

That confidence has paid off in the form of Soderstrom¡¯s best sustained stretch as a hitter. He¡¯s now homered in three of his past four games and hit safely in seven of his past eight games, batting .320 (8-for-25) over that stretch.

¡°I think it just goes into the work,¡± Soderstrom said of his recent success. ¡°You get the reps up here with everyday at-bats and keep working hard. The biggest thing is just taking it day by day, working hard and trusting yourself.¡±

The biggest difference between this season and last for Soderstrom comes in his swing decisions. Though the strikeouts (27) remain a bit high, his 12 walks have already surpassed last year¡¯s total (11). This is the product of his ability to lay off pitches he was prone to chasing in the past.

This was evident in his second-inning at-bat. After taking a called first strike, Soderstrom took a splitter that dove down in the zone for a ball. Last year, he likely would have swung at it and dug himself an 0-2 count. This time around, he waited for Ryan to come back in the zone. One pitch later, Soderstrom launched a splitter left middle-up for a majestic Statcast-projected 431-foot blast to straightaway center that left his bat at a scorching exit velocity of 112.1 mph, registering as the hardest-hit batted ball of his career and second-longest homer.

¡°Tyler¡¯s been able to make an adjustment on some pitches he was chasing,¡± Kotsay said. ¡°He¡¯s done a nice job of shrinking the zone, getting pitches he can handle and putting good swings on them. ¡­ Those types of at-bats show the progress he¡¯s making that, ultimately, will lead to a lot of success for him.¡±

For the A¡¯s, Thursday marked their 12th loss in their past 15 games. After early signs of hope by entering May 5 as a .500 team (17-17), they¡¯re now a season-worst 19 games under .500 (26-45) as the reality of what is still a rebuilding phase has set in. Going forward, this season is about the continued development of players who could help the A¡¯s get back to contending baseball in the future like Soderstrom, who is finally showing signs of just how good a hitter he can be.

¡°I¡¯m just trying to live day by day,¡± Soderstrom said. ¡°Just put my head down, enjoy being up here and enjoy the process.¡±