Soderstrom homers as lone run in A’s loss

Soderstrom was the only person to drive home a run with a hit in this game as the Athletics outlasted the Twins 2-0 and scored their other run via a sacrifice fly. He’s quietly had another strong season with 16 home runs, 49 RBI, a .248 batting average, and .819 OPS in 91 games. His play has been especially strong lately with eight homers and a .964 OPS over his last 30 games as he’s put an ice cold start to his season far in the rear view mirror.

Soderstrom gave the A’s an 8-0 lead in the sixth inning with a two-run shot that was the 16th of the season. Not exactly high-leverage, but counts just the same. He also singled, and those reaches bring his slash up to .246/.356/.484 on the campaign with 46 RBI over 306 at-bats. Soderstrom certainly has his flaws, but it’s tough to complain too much about the production over the last two campaign.s

The A’s have been careful to ease Soderstrom back into action since his return from the injured list, so he’ll get another day off with left-hander Noah Schultz taking the mound for the White Sox in this one. Expect to see him utilized off the bench against a right-hander later in the game if needed. Joey Meneses will start in his place at first base and bat sixth for the A’s on Sunday.

At the time, it seemed like Soderstrom had hit a meaningful home run. He cut the White Sox’s lead to 4-1 in the top of the seventh and there was a whiff of momentum in the air. Then, the White Sox responded with an eight-run bottom of that inning and the rout was on. Alas, that was Soderstrom’s 14th home run in a first half where he had to battle a couple of injuries.

The A’s appear to be easing Soderstrom back into action in his return from the injured list, so he’ll take a seat against Tigers’ southpaw Framber Valdez on Thursday evening in Motown. Nick Kurtz will function as the club’s designated hitter on Thursday while Jonah Heim draws a start at first base and will bat cleanup for the A’s.

Soderstrom was reinstated from the injured list before Wednesday’s game and was slotted right back into the cleanup spot against Detroit righty Troy Melton. The A’s only mustered seven hits, two of which went for extra bases. Their lineup hasn’t been as potent as many expected this season, but there should still be enough high-scoring affairs at home this summer.

In 24 hours we went from hearing that Sodterstrom hadn’t done any baseball activities, to hearing he could be back soon, to actually having him back from the injured list. We have no idea how healthy he truly is, but this Athletics lineup could certainly use him. Soderstrom is one of our favorite picks for a strong second half surge.

Athletics manager Mark Kotsay told reporters there’s a chance Soderstrom is back “very soon.” The 24-year-old slugger has been out with a hip impingement since late June. It sounds like there’s a strong probability he makes it back to the Athletics lineup prior to next week’s All-Star break.

Soderstrom landed on the 10-day injured list with a left hip impingement on Jun 29th, and the expectation remains that he will return after the All-Star break. However, we’ll need to see him resume some activities this week before we can be confident he will return right after the break. In the meantime, Carlos Cortes will continue to start against right-handed pitchers, with Colby Thomas starting against lefties. The Athletics will see three lefties in their next six games.

Soderstrom lands on the shelf after making an early exit from Saturday’s game against the Angels with hip tightness. There should be an update regarding his official return timeline at some point this week, but fantasy managers should anticipate a multi-week absence, even if it winds up being on the milder end of the spectrum. The 24-year-old slugger has delivered a respectable follow-up to last year’s 25-homer campaign, hitting .242/.343/.460 with 14 homers, 41 RBI and one steal in 335 plate appearances across 80 games this season.