Oakland A's promote top prospects Tyler Soderstrom and Zack Gelof
Following the MLB All-Star Game and with a couple of days to spare before the next regular-season matchup next Friday, the Oakland Athletics made a couple of exciting (much more than their season, truth be told) roster promotions.
The A's have added top prospects Tyler Soderstrom (first reported by Christopher Correa of the Turlock Journal) and Zack Gelof (per Martin Gallegos of MLB.com) to their lineup ahead of the series against the Twins kicking off on July 14 inside the Oakland Coliseum.
A’s are adding No. 3 prospect Zack Gelof to their 40-man roster and plan to call him up in time for Friday’s series opener against the Twins at the Coliseum, per source.
— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) July 12, 2023
With Gelof coming up, A’s are promoting No. 14 prospect Darrell Hernaiz from Double-A to Triple-A.
Tyler Soderstrom, who the A's selected as the 26th overall pick in 2020, has spent the entire 2023 season playing ball at Triple-A Las Vegas. Through 69 games, Soderstrom has bagged himself 20 home runs and it's rare to launch the Twitter app on a day the Aviators play and fail to find a short clip of the young man putting a ball past the fences.
Soderstrom is a consensus Top 100 prospect in all major scouting services and platforms, from ESPN to MLB, Fangraphs, etc. and he's considered the best prospect in the A's farm system.
While he started his pro career as a catcher, Soderstrom has split his playing time between catcher and first base of late making 35 starts behind the plate and 24 at first base (nine extra starts saw him man the DH role).
From now on, though, Soderstrom is expected to ditch the plate and become a full-time major league first baseman. This season, starting on Friday, he will probably still split time between catching games and playing at first or serving as the designated hitter.
Zack Gelof, aged 23, was a second-round draft pick by the A's in 2021. He's a fantastic hitter and in 69 games this season playing along Soderstrom at Las Vegas he's slashed .304/.401/.529.
From college to the pros, Gelof has moved from third to second base. Gelof is considered the third-best prospect in the A's ranks entering the second half of the season.
Same as Soderstrom, he will have a chance at testing himself against the cream of the crop for a few weeks this season to see where he's at in the developmental curve and whether or not he can already deal with major-league pitching.
The main casualty of the promotions of the top-two prospects in the A's farm system was right-hander pitcher Adam Oller.
Although the A's had not made an official announcement before the Seattle Mariners claimed him off waivers on July 12, the pitcher had been released by the A's before that could happen and it's believed such a transaction was officially executed a few days ago.
RHP Adam Oller has been claimed off waivers by Seattle.
— Oakland A's Communications (@AthleticsPR) July 12, 2023
Oller had spent some time with the MLB squad at the start of the year, taking on relief duties for Oakland and allowing 22 runs in 19.2 innings pitched for the major league team.
The A's initially acquired Oller in the package they received from the New York Mets when they traded Chris Bassitt to the East Coast team last year.