A's Duo Outperforming Yankees' Judge, Soto Since July 1

Jason Burke | Sep 15, 2024

Jul 30, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Oakland Athletics right fielder Lawrence Butler (4) congratulates Oakland Athletics designated hitter Brent Rooker (25) after hitting a two-run home run against the San Francisco Giants during the fifth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images / Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images

If you're looking for the best duo in baseball, it's hard to look past New York Yankees sluggers Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. Judge has 52 home runs this season, while Soto has provided a second otherworldly bat for pitchers to fear in the Bomber's lineup. Yet, since the begging of July, the Oakland A's have their own dynamic duo in Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler, and the counting stats are a lot closer than you might think.

Let's start with the Judge. Not only does he hit for power, but he's also batting well over .300 on the year, getting on base at a .450 clip, and can even swipe a few bags. Since the beginning of July he is batting .327 with a .479 OBP, 21 home runs, 46 runs scored, 48 RBI and holds a 212 wRC+, which is the best in baseball over that span.

While the wRC+ for Judge is the best in MLB, he actually trails Rooker in a few categories. The A's DH is batting .346 with a .411 on-base, 21 home runs (tied with Judge), 48 runs scored, 58 RBI, and held a 199 wRC+ heading into Saturday's game against the White Sox when he went 3-for-5 with a run and two RBI. Rooker ranks second in wRC+ in this span to only Judge, holding a slight edge over AL MVP candidate Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals.

Those lines are at the very least comparable. Judge has the edge in fWAR since he plays in the field, leading Rooker 4.2 to 3.3.

Moving on to Soto, he is another one of the best players in baseball, and is likely to sign a contract worth north of $500 million in the coming months. Since July 1 he's hitting .263 with a .392 OBP, 19 home runs, 47 runs scored, 40 RBI and a 173 wRC+. That wRC+ ranks No. 8 in MLB during this period of time.

Lawrence Butler, playing in his first full season in the big leagues, ranks No. 6 in MLB in wRC+ with a 184, trailing just Judge, Rooker, Witt, Yordan Alvarez and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He's ranked ahead of guys like Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets, Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers, and Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers. That's how well he's been playing during his breakout.

As for the counting stats, he's batting .329 with a .366 OBP, 19 home runs, 47 runs scored, 47 driven in and that 184 wRC+. It's also Butler that holds a slight lead over Soto in fWAR at 3.4 to 3.1.

To be clear, this isn't to say that the A's combo of Butler and Rooker is better than the Yankees two-some or to talk trash of any kind. Instead, it's meant to give some shine to two guys that don't get a lot of it since their team isn't readying for the postseason, and to give the fans that will be sticking around or tuning in for the first time a little bit of hope for 2025.

We received a lot of replies to our report about the A's saying there is no guarantee that any potential postseason games for the club would be played at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento that consisted of the Colts' head coach Jim Mora saying "Playoffs?!" It may be hard to fathom, but the A's are beginning to round into shape and are starting to look like a team that could challenge for a spot in the postseason thanks to the leadership of Mark Kotsay since he took over as manager in 2022.

They may not be ready quite yet in 2025, but with Butler and Rooker, they'll have two solid building blocks for when those days come.