To celebrate the Man of Steal on what would have been Rickey Henderson’s 67th birthday, the A’s have come to terms with their current left fielder, Tyler Soderstrom. This will lock him up well into the team’s planned tenure in Las Vegas, securing his services through the 2032 season.

The deal was first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan. “BREAKING: Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom and the A’s are in agreement on a seven-year, $86 million contract extension, the largest guarantee in franchise history, sources tell ESPN. The deal includes an eighth-year club option and has escalators that max it out at $131 million.”

Earlier this offseason, we ranked the A’s extension candidates from most to least likely, and Soderstrom finished second in our ranking. This is partially due to how much his manager, Mark Kotsay, loves him and what he brings to the club. Being able to go from the Opening Day first baseman to a Gold Glove nominated left fielder over the course of the season is impressive.

Soderstrom also broke out with the bat in a big way in 2025. The 24-year-old batted .276 with a .346 OBP and a career-high 25 home runs. He also posted a 125 wRC+ (100 is league average), which placed him among the top 40 bats in baseball. A solid bat with superb defense is one heck of a combination.

This contract will keep him in green and gold through at least his age 30 season, with the eighth year option being in his age-31 campaign.

Around the All-Star break, we asked Kotsay what makes a player a core player to him, and he named Soderstrom specifically. He mentioned that a core player is someone that is playing every day, contributing to the club offensively and defensively and someone that is just a solid contributor. In other words, that’s exactly what makes Soderstrom so valuable to the A’s.

What makes Soderstrom’s breakout look like it’ll stick is that he was able to make adjustments to his approach to fit the situation he was in at the plate. If he needed to move the runner, he could do that. If there was a runner on second, he could go the other way and use the whole field. He was also able to tap into his power plenty with those 25 home runs.

He reached a new level at the dish, which was apparent to anyone that was watching him in 2025. Now A’s fans can bank on seeing him play for their team for years to come.

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