A's Calling Up Top Prospect Tyler Soderstrom, #3 Zack Gelof
It all started with a tweet. The Oakland A's #3 prospect Zack Gelof posted a photo of himself and top prospect Tyler Soderstrom in A's uniforms (above) on Wednesday that was taken during spring training with an excited emoji. Not too long after, Soderstrom retweeted the post.
Gelof isn't a huge tweeter by any means, and when he has posted of late, it has been in relation to his brother, recent Los Angeles Dodgers' draftee Jake Gelof.
This got A's fans wondering if both players were getting the call to join the A's in Oakland for the second half. An hour after Zack's tweet, his father confirmed everyone's suspicions, saying that his son was getting the call and is "excited to play in front of the loud, rowdy & very much 'we are still here' fans at the Coliseum. #LastDiveBar here we come!"
A's fans have to love that the elder Gelof is familiar with the goings on of the organization this season, showed support, and also name-dropped Last Dive Bar, a group of fans that sells A's merchandise to benefit the A's Community Fund, among other good deeds.
That still left Soderstrom without any confirmation for a call-up (but a decent amount of certainty it would happen), but that would come a little later in the day when Martín Gallegos tweeted out that a source told him both prospects would be making their big-league debuts on Friday when play resumes.
So with that being the case, what do you need to know about these top prospects?
Tyler Soderstrom has hit .254 with a .303 on-base percentage (OBP) and an 85 wRC+ in his first full season at Triple-A at the age of 21. He has also shown tons of pop in his bat with 20 dingers, fourth-most in the Pacific Coast League. He is one of only two 21-year-olds to play in the league this year, and the other is Luis Matos of the San Francisco Giants who was called up to the big leagues a month ago.
This season he has played 24 games at first, 35 at catcher, and 10 as the team's DH. The last two games he played in Las Vegas had him behind the dish one game and playing first base the next, so how exactly he'll be used is up for debate until Friday.
In watching him work during spring training, it was apparent that he still needed some seasoning behind the dish, so how much he has improved is unknown, as is how much of the catching duties he'll take on. First base is also pretty well spoken for with Rule 5 draftee Ryan Noda arguably being an All Star snub.
While Soderstrom has also been his team's DH, the A's made a big deal out of Jordan Díaz being too young to be the team's primary designated hitter last season, and with Soderstrom being the same age as Díaz was then, it's hard to imagine the organization's thought process has shifted much there.
For Gelof, his promotion comes two years to the day after the A's selected him in the 2021 MLB Draft in the second round. In the time since, the 23-year-old has had cups of coffee in Triple-A Las Vegas in each of the previous two seasons, before starting the year there in 2023.
He's batting .304 with a .401 OBP, 12 homers, and 20 stolen bases this season. In nine July games he's 17-for-43 (.395) with four homers, 16 runs batted in, five doubles, and three steals. His 13.3% walk rate this season is the highest in his pro career and his strikeout rate has held pretty steady at 27.9% this year.
One of the most intriguing parts of his FanGraphs page is that no matter the sample size--big or small--he has never been below league average. The lowest wRC+ he has posted has been a 105 (where 100 is league average) back in Double-A last year. With the Aviators this season he has a 122. That ranks him 12th in the PCL in that stat, and everyone above him is in their mid-to-late 20's.
Fans are very excited to see what these guys do in the second half of what has been a pretty difficult season for the team. With any luck they can bring a little hope to a fan base that could desperately use something to cheer.