Tyler Soderstrom, the A’s top-ranked prospect who has been mired in a month-long batting slump, was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas in a flurry of moves Monday before the start of their three-game home series against the Kansas City Royals.
The A’s also reinstated rookie first baseman Ryan Noda from the 10-day injured list and selected the contract of right-hander Spencer Patton, placed right-hander Luis Medina on the 15-day IL, and moved James Kaprielian to the 60-day IL.
Soderstrom, the A’s first pick in the 2020 draft, made his big league debut in mid-July and hit safely in two of his first three games. But overall, the 21-year-old has a slash line of .165/.237/.247 with two home runs and 29 strikeouts in 93 plate appearances.
In August, Soderstrom was 6-for-47 (.128) with 16 strikeouts and a .457 on-base percentage. He had been playing catcher and first base, and figured to lose playing time with the return of Noda and Carlos Perez getting more at-bats at catcher, first base and DH.
Soderstrom had only played 78 career games at Triple-A (including last season) when he was promoted and figures to benefit from more seasoning with Las Vegas, where he hit 20 home runs with a slash line of .254/.303/.536 in 304 plate appearances with the Navigators this season.
Noda was having a productive rookie season before he suffered a broken jaw and was placed on the injured list on July 19.
Noda took a grounder to the mouth during warmups before their game against the Red Sox and still played, hitting a double and a home run. He was batting .229 with 11 home runs, 38 RBIs at the time led the AL in walks (60) and was sixth with a 375 on-base percentage.
Medina (3-8, 5.44) has a blister on his throwing hand that cut short his most recent start on Friday against the Orioles. The rookie had a 2.86 ERA with 27 strikeouts in 22 innings in four appearances in July, but has struck out just eight with seven walks and 14 hits in his past 10 ⅓ innings.
Patton, 35, made four appearances with the A’s back in May. He had a 4.68 ERA in 40 appearances with Las Vegas.
Kaprielian, 29, underwent season-ending shoulder surgery earlier this month.
A’s hire construction firm
The A’s have hired a construction firm for their proposed new ballpark in Las Vegas, bringing in Mortenson-McCarthy to oversee the project on the site of the current Tropicana property.
The A’s are hoping to open a new ballpark just off the Las Vegas Strip by 2028 at a cost of approximately $1,5 billion. A design still has to be finalized after the stadium’s initial renderings, which came out in late May, were scrapped last month.
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Per the A’s, Mortenson-McCarthy will be responsible for overseeing all construction-related activities, including preconstruction estimating, scheduling and logistics planning, bidding, coordination and management of all craft employees and trade partners, labor relations, and community engagement.
The official hiring of Mortenson-McCarthy, which also built Allegiant Stadium, is subject to approval by the Las Vegas Stadium Authority. Construction on Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders, was completed in 2020 at a cost of approximately $2 billion.
The A’s will play at the Coliseum in 2024 but it is unclear where they will play their home games from 2025 to 2027.
