It’s election season, and Tyler Soderstrom is making an early push for votes.
In a 14-3 win against the Minnesota Twins at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento on Thursday afternoon, the Athletics’ Tyler Soderstrom drove in six runs on a pair of home runs, a 2-run shot and a grand slam. His 13th and 14th home runs of the season lead all A’s, and the blast with the bases loaded marked the first of the 23-year-old’s career.
The power surge marked Soderstrom’s fourth multi-homer game of 2025 and pushed his RBI total to a team-high 42. It also came a day after his name appeared on an All-Star Game ballot for the very first time.
The performance was much-needed for the 2020 Turlock High graduate, who was 5-for-40 with 19 strikeouts in the club’s previous 12 games. Most importantly for the A’s, the Turlock native’s power display helped the club — who entered the contest losing 21 of their last 23 — snap a nine-game losing streak.
“We all know he’s had ups and downs this season,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay told Mike Bush, reporter for the Davis Enterprise and Journal contributor. “The maturity for Tyler is that he’s not letting the at-bats roll into the defense… He’s done a great job in separating that. It’s a good sign of maturation for a young player, who is arguably having his best professional season.”
Soderstrom’s first home run Thursday came with no outs and Brent Rooker on base in the third inning, sending a David Festa fastball 433 feet to right-center field to extend the A’s lead to 7-0.
“He’s a good pitcher out there,” said Soderstrom of the right-handed Festa, who threw six innings, gave up six hits and struck out eight A’s batters. “He was throwing hard. I had to be on time for the fastball.”
The slam job came just an inning later against right-handed reliever Jorge Alcala. Again, Soderstrom was hunting fastball, and he received one over the middle of the plate on Alcala’s sixth offering. Unlike the first home run, the second blast went 364 feet the opposite way, and extended the A’s lead to 11-1.
Per, MLB.com's Martin Gallegos, Soderstrom is now just the fifth player in A’s history to record four or more multi-home run games in the team’s first 64 games of the season, joining Reggie Jackson in 1969 with 7, Jackson again in 1974 with 4, Gus Zernial (5) in 1951, Jimmie Foxx (4) in 1934 and Mark McGwire (4) in 1990.
Though Thursday was Soderstrom’s seventh straight game played at first base because of Nick Kurtz landing on the injured list with a strained left hip flexor, the Turlocker is listed on the All-Star ballot as an outfielder, as left field has been his primary position since April 23.
His 14 home runs are tied for sixth in the American League (third among outfielders behing Aaron Judge’s 21 and Taylor Ward’s 17), and his 42 RBIs are tied for fourth overall (second among outfielders behind Judge’s 51).
Since fan voting of position players was reintroduced to Major League Baseball by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn in 1970, only one other local player has been listed on an All-Star ballot, Cleveland Indians shortstop Frank Duffy in 1975 and ‘76, though he was never elected. Duffy graduated from Turlock High in 1964.
Voting for this year’s MLB All-Star Game, which takes place from Truist Park in Atlanta on July 15, began on Wednesday.
Phase 1 of fan voting runs through June 26 at 9 a.m. PST. In Phase 1, fans can vote on which players they'd like to see start at each position, except for the outfield, where fans can pick three players in each league. They can do so up to five times every 24 hours.
Phase 2 begins at 9 a.m. PST June 30 and runs through 9 a.m. PST on July 2. In this phase, fans get to vote between the top two vote-getters on the infield and the top six vote-getters in the outfield in both leagues.
The winners at each position (including three outfielders in each league) will be revealed on ESPN at 4 p.m.PST on July 2.
The pitchers and reserves for both leagues -- totaling 23 players for each side -- will be determined via “Player Ballot” choices and selections made by the Commissioner’s Office. The complete All-Star rosters will be announced at 2 p.m. PST July 6 on ESPN.
Fans can submit their votes on MLB.com, the MLB's mobile app or at any of the 30 MLB stadiums.
— Mike Bush of the Davis Enterprise contributed to this report.
