A's Slugger Brent Rooker Still One of Baseball's Most Underrated Stars

Dylan Grausz | Sep 12, 2024

Sep 6, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics designated hitter Brent Rooker (25) hits an RBI sacrifice fly against the Detroit Tigers during the twelfth inning at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Heading into last season, Brent Rooker was an under-the-radar player who the Oakland A’s acquired after the Kansas City Royals designated him for assignment after the 2022 season came to an end. But as it turns out, joining the A’s has been the best thing for Rooker, because since he has arrived in Oakland, he has evolved into one of baseball’s best hitters, earning an All-Star bid last year and continuing his greatness this season, having been the best hitter on the A’s all year long. Heading into Wednesday's game in Houston, Rooker is batting .299 with 35 home runs and 101 RBI. Those kind of numbers get a player into the Hall of Fame. And yet, he is still flying way under the radar, especially when it comes to the MLB award races.

Despite what the A’s record suggests, as the team is currently sitting in fourth place in the American League West with a 64-82 record, Rooker has consistently been able to produce day in and day out. However, despite all that, ESPN currently has Rooker at 10th in the AL MVP Race, albeit competing with guys like Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt and Juan Soto.

Judge is the clear front runner, as he has put together another historic season, but the guys behind Judge have had similar seasons to the one that Rooker is putting together. Despite Witt having a .334 batting average, he has 30 home runs and 99 RBIs, which is very close to what Rooker has done in that department. As for Soto, his 38 home runs and .998 OPS are higher than Rooker’s numbers, but his batting average of .290 is nine points lower and considering Soto has had 571 at-bats to Rooker’s 482, Rooker has made the most out of every opportunity he has gotten this season. The one mark against Rooker is that he's solely a DH, which hurts his overall WAR in comparison to a great shortstop like Witt, but even with just his bat doing the talking, Rooker is right in line with a former MVP like Bryce Harper (4.7 for Rooker, 4.9 for Harper).

Struggling in the first half, the second half of the season has been very kind to the A’s, with the team going 15-9 in July and 14-12 in August and through nine games in September, are 5-5. During that time, Rooker has been spectacular, hitting .391 with 11 home runs and 30 RBIs in July while hitting .275 with seven home runs and 14 RBIs in August. Playing primarily DH all year, with 14 starts in the outfield between left and right field, Rooker’s production has been consistent and his strong second half is a big reason why the A’s have been able to look much better than expected, while providing hope for 2025 and beyond.

Overall, Rooker leads the A’s in every major category, with the him leading the team in hits with 142 (JJ Bleday is the next closest with 126), home runs with 35 (Shea Langeliers is second with 25), RBIs with 101 (Shea Langeliers is second with 69) and with his .299 average, he leads the team by over 10 points in that category, with the injured Miguel Andujar being second on the team with a .285.

Rooker’s A’s career has been a dominant one and as the team prepares to leave Oakland for Sacramento ahead of a pending move to Las Vegas, Rooker’s presence will be key as the organization looks towards the future and continues the rebuild with the hopes of becoming contenders once again in the near future.