CHICAGO – Just when you thought Tyler Soderstrom’s reign atop Major League Baseball’s home run leaderboards might be coming to an end, the Athletics first baseman did it again.
After vaulting ahead of a crowded group for the MLB lead with two home runs on Tuesday -- his third multi-homer game of the season -- Soderstrom fell back into a tie with Cal Raleigh on early Thursday afternoon after the Mariners catcher crushed his eighth long ball of the season against the Reds.
About 30 minutes later, Soderstrom was back on top.
Heading to the plate with two outs in the seventh inning of Thursday’s 8-0 victory over the White Sox at Rate Field, Soderstrom turned on a 3-2 hanging slider from reliever Brandon Eisert and launched his ninth homer of the season – a 374-foot solo shot that sailed into the A’s bullpen just beyond the right-field wall.
It was another wrinkle in the evolution of Soderstrom at the Major League level, as Thursday’s homer was his first career home run off a left-handed pitcher.
“Lefty-lefty is never easy,” Soderstrom said. “I was able to grind it out, get to a 3-2 count and he left a slider over the middle. I was able to put a good swing on it and it went out of the park.”
The good swings have come in bunches as Soderstrom’s unreal start continues. His nine home runs -- matching his 2024 total over 61 games -- are now tied for the most by a player age 23 or younger in his team’s first 19 games of the season. The other four on that list:
Cody Bellinger (2019)
Bryce Harper (2016)
Austin Kearns (2003)
George Scott (1966)
In terms of franchise history, Soderstrom is only the fifth A’s player with at least nine home runs in the team’s first 19 games of a season:
T-1. Khris Davis (10) in 2019
T-1. Bob Cerv (10) in 1958
T-2. Tyler Soderstrom (9) in 2025
T-2. Mark McGwire (9) in 1992
T-2. Reggie Jackson (9) in 1974
“I’m not really trying to focus on myself,” Soderstrom said. “Today, we just really wanted to go out there and sweep them, and we accomplished that. JP [Sears] threw a [heck] of a game and we backed him up with some homers and runs scored. Good day overall.”
Team results are indeed what matter most to the A’s. They entered 2025 expecting to transition from what had been a rebuilding phase to competing for a playoff spot, and they’re now just a game under .500 (9-10) after beating up on the White Sox over a three-game sweep.
Soderstrom’s special run to this point, however, can’t go unnoticed. It’s already gaining steam on a national level, with the young slugger making an appearance Thursday morning on MLB Network's weekday morning show MLB Central.
Affectionately referred to as “Sode” by teammates and coaches, Soderstrom is not exactly the most extroverted personality in the clubhouse. He generally keeps to himself and keeps his answers short when it comes to doing media. So, even going on with Mark DeRosa, Lauren Shehadi and Robert Flores to talk about his family’s almond farm that sits on 200 acres of land back home in Turlock, Calif. is new for him.
“Sode’s different,” said Sears, who blanked the White Sox across six scoreless innings. “He’s so stoic all the time. He never gets too high. He expects a lot of himself. … I don’t think a lot of people realize the pitches he’s not swinging at and the pitches he’s not swinging and missing at and just how comfortable he looks in the box.
“Being comfortable and confident is a big part of being good in the big leagues. It’s been fun to watch.”
There’s no questioning Soderstrom’s comfort level at the plate. On top of vastly improved plate discipline, he’s practically putting a barrel on every pitch in the zone that comes his way.
Of his four at-bats on Thursday, the home run was only his third-hardest-hit ball in play at an exit velocity of 103.9 mph. He also had a first-inning ground out of 106.5 mph, a ninth-inning lineout to deep center at 105.3, and a 100.3 mph groundout in the fifth.
“It’s been a ton of fun,” said A’s left fielder Brent Rooker, who launched his fifth homer of the year in the ninth. “Every at-bat is competitive. Every mistake seems to be hit 105 miles an hour. I think it’s kind of the ability that we all knew Sode had. We all saw it coming. It’s been fun to watch him come into his own.”