Even after moving out of Oakland, nothing changed for the A’s this season as well. Another season without October baseball. And while the 2025 season did not offer much to the A’s, veteran DH Brent Rooker does not want anyone trying to put his teammate down.

Recently, when sports analyst Matt Zylbert posted a video of A’s outfielder Tyler Soderstrom dropping a fly ball against the Yankees. Zylbert tagged Soderstrom’s teammate, Brent Rooker, writing, “Hey @Brent_Rooker25 this your boy? Just saying Soderstrom had other plays like this, not to mention the one where he forgot how many outs there were in mid-July (which doesn’t count against someone’s “analytical” defensive stats) And this play technically was two errors.” This jab, however, didn’t go unanswered.

“Dude I cannot even begin to describe how dumb you are making yourself look,” Rooker fired back. “You were presented with a 108 game sample size of very good to elite defensive metrics and your counter argument is ‘but look at this one play!'” Rooker even reminded him that no player is perfect, which makes the single misplay a poor argument, saying, “There are 54 Gold Glove finalists and I promise you that none of them made every single play hit to them this season so by your logic there shouldn’t even be an award.” This heated exchange wasn’t their first time, though.

It started when Rooker celebrated Soderstrom’s Gold Glove nomination. Zylbert called the nomination “one of the most egregious inclusions in recent memory.” Rooker calmly replied with hard data: “+5 OAA, +10 DRS, tied for 3rd among all OF in assists.” Zylbert admitted his take was based on only watching about 15 games. But he reignited the feud with the recent video.

So, what is the actual story behind the player they are debating?

Tyler Soderstrom started the year as the team’s first baseman, where his defense was actually a liability, costing the team seven runs (-7 DRS). But on April 23, the A’s promoted top prospect Nick Kurtz, who also played first base. The team needed a solution to keep both in the lineup. To make room, A’s asked its best hitter, who smashed 25 home runs, to move to left field, where he had never played before. And what happened next was nothing short of remarkable..

In 108 games in the outfield, the A’s first-round pick as a catcher in 2020 posted an incredible +10 DRS and 11 assists, and became a Gold Glove finalist in his first-ever season in that position. And in offense? He smashed 25 home runs and drove in a team-leading 93 RBIs with a .820 OPS and became one of the best stories for the A’s.

The 23-year-old was a finalist alongside Cleveland’s Steven Kwan, a three-time Gold Glove winner, and Wyatt Langford of the Texas Rangers. Kwan was leading all left fielders with an astounding +22 DRS, and Langford posted a stellar +12 DRS and ended in second position.

Soderstrom wasn’t the only Athletic to get a nod for his glove work this season. Pitcher Luis Severino also earned a Gold Glove nomination and finished in second position. Over 29 starts, Severino did not commit a single error while recording 24 assists and a +6 DRS, second-best among AL pitchers.

These nominations tap into A’s rich history of defensive wizards. Since 1957, the A’s have been home to some of the game’s best fielders. Joe Rudi won three straight Gold Gloves in the outfield in the ’70s. The “Bash Brothers” era of the 80s featured Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson and the incredible Dwayne Murphy. The “Moneyball” era featured the legendary third baseman Eric Chavez, who won six in a row. And more recently, we’ve seen the amazing infield duo of Matt Chapman and Matt Olson. They combined to win five Gold Gloves in the late 2010s.

And in fact, the last time the A’s had both a pitcher and an outfielder win a Gold Glove in the same year was 1981, with Mike Norris and Rickey Henderson.