Who Will Take The Next Step for the A's in 2025?

Who will be the A's next breakout star?

Sep 18, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Oakland Athletics first baseman Tyler Soderstrom (21) watches his solo home run against the Chicago Cubs during the fourth inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images / Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Athletics are one of the more intriguing teams in baseball. There has been, and will continue to be, a lot of outside noise and "distractions" with the A's as they push to make Las Vegas their next permanent home. However, when putting that aside, the A's have a young team on the rise in what seems to be a regressing AL West.

Fans saw one of the team's top prospects, Lawrence Butler, struggle to start his young career but quickly rise to stardom and cement himself as part of the A's future. The A's will be counting on one of their many young players to make that jump, and Tyler Soderstrom may be the next one to do it.

The former A's No. 1 prospect, Soderstrom, made his MLB debut in July of 2023, right after the All-Star break, along with former No. 3 prospect Zack Gelof. Soderstrom struggled in 2023, unlike Gelof, and bounced between the big league club and Triple-A Las Vegas to end the season.

After batting .121 in Spring Training, Soderstrom started the year in Triple-A Las Vegas. He was recalled on May 8th after Ryan Noda was optioned to Triple-A because of his own slow start at the plate.

Soderstrom went on to play well with the A's, displaying higher exit velocities and a new sense of comfortability at the plate. Unfortunately, he suffered a left wrist bone bruise, which sidelined him until the middle of September. Upon his return post-injury, Soderstrom played in 12 games, hitting .279 with four doubles, two home runs, and six runs batted in and displaying a 40% hard-hit rate according to Baseball Savant.

The Turlock High School alumni displayed a very good walk rate at 9.4% in 2024, along with a right about league-average strikeout rate at 24.9%. His exit velocities, barrel, and hard-hit percentages all took positive jumps this past season, showing signs of what is to come for the former first-round pick.

While the 22-year-old seems to have first base locked down for the A's, the team does have a lot of young talent moving their way through the system. In the end-of-season Zoom call, GM David Forst noted that because of that talent ready to emerge at the first base position, Soderstrom was told to not put his catcher's gear away just yet.

Soderstrom has a good arm behind the plate, one he does not get to display often playing first base. If Soderstrom can iron out some bad habits behind the plate and become a backup to Shea Langeliers, that would only give him more at-bats and an opportunity to shine.

Soderstrom will now look to take the next step in his young career and maybe give the A's a "Big 3" in their lineup next to Brent Rooker and Butler. With a good offseason and spring training, he could be the next A's player primed for a breakout as the presumed Opening Day first baseman heading into 2025.