WEST SACRAMENTO – Tyler Soderstrom was the latest key member of the Athletics to go down in a season that has been defined by injuries.
The A’s placed Soderstrom on the 10-day injured list ahead of Sunday’s series finale against the Rangers at Sutter Health Park with a left hip impingement, an issue he had been dealing with since coming off the IL for the same injury on July 8.
In a corresponding move, infielder Darell Hernaiz was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas. Hernaiz was immediately inserted into the A’s starting lineup Sunday, batting ninth and playing third base.
While Soderstrom’s IL placement is retroactive to Aug. 15, it’s unclear at this point just how long he might be out. A’s manager Mark Kotsay said “there is a possibility” that Soderstrom could miss the remainder of the season. The club will have a better idea after he goes to visit a hip specialist in Los Angeles on Monday.
“There’s hope that he’ll be back,” Kotsay said. “But it’s just not known right now until we get this evaluation.”
The timing of this development is somewhat surprising. Soderstrom has been on a hot streak as of late as he entered Sunday on an 11-game hitting streak, which is the second-longest active streak in MLB. The A’s have been cautious with Soderstrom’s workload by mixing in days off and some games as the designated hitter in hopes that he could make it to the end of the season, but the lingering hip issue seemingly worsened.
“In the discussions with him yesterday, he feels like it’s impacting his performance,” Kotsay said. “He wants to make the decision to go see the specialist. At this point, that’s what we’re going to do for him.”
Soderstrom now makes it a season-high 13 players on the IL as the A’s continue their brutal bout with the injury bug. He joins a group of injured players that includes Brent Rooker, Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers.
Between Rooker, Kurtz, Langeliers and Soderstrom, those four key players have combined to miss 102 games this season. There’s also Jacob Wilson, who returned to the lineup Sunday but has missed 37 games due to injury and continues dealing with a banged up left shoulder that will likely require surgery at the end of the season.
“I’ve never seen it before,” Kotsay said. “Having four of your Opening Day players having injuries that impact their seasons like this, and all at once. Generally, you can go through timeframes with guys in and out of the lineup. But I’ve never seen a group of players end up with injuries like this that are impacting the majority of their seasons.”