Brent Rooker Thriving in May
When the Oakland A's released their renderings for the proposed ballpark in Las Vegas in March, there were a number of batting averages listed on the gigantic green screen that hung over the board. Most of them were fairly optimistic, and as Foolish Baseball noted on Twitter, Brent Rooker's .303 average really stood out.
This render is completely unrealistic. I like Brent Rooker, but there's no way he profiles as a .303 hitter. https://t.co/ci4DGm2VOr pic.twitter.com/0FA3VN1u3C
— Foolish Baseball (@FoolishBB) March 5, 2024
Foolish Baseball meant this as a joke, and Rooker even replied to the tweet by saying he was "catching strays."
Yet, as of May 13 of this season, he was hitting exactly .303 on the year. In the six games since that average has dropped a little, down to .281 on the year, but that shouldn't distract us from the fact that he's having an insane month of May.
Heading into Monday's off day, Rooker is 24-for-67 (.358) with six homers, 19 RBI, a .419 OBP, and his OPS sits at 1.106 for the month. He spent about a week on the IL in April which is keeping him off the MLB leaderboards, but if you set the minimum required plate appearances to 140 on the season, then Rook ranks as the 12th-best hitter in baseball with a 163 wRC+. He's also tied for 12th in homers with ten, and 20th in RBI with 29.
This month he ranks fifth in wRC+ with a 209, meaning that he's been 109% better than league average. The four players rank above him in May are Aaron Judge (291), Shohei Ohtani (247), Bryson Stott (228), and teammate Shea Langeliers (212).
We spoke with Rooker before the A's departed on their road trip, and asked him how he would compare the hot streak that he was apparently just beginning to the one that he was on early last season.
"I feel better. I think I'm a better hitter now than I was at that point. I think I'm more familiar with myself and what I do well and what I need to do to have sustained success than I was last year."
As a refresher, Rook became a regular for the A's last April and went 24-for-67 (.358) with a .471 OBP and nine home runs. That is the same exact number of hits in the same exact number of at-bats, with a little less thump and a few fewer walks. All in all, it's pretty similar, and as he said, he's more aware of what he needs to do to have sustained runs like this than he was at this point last season.
We also asked him about his process when he does hit a tough stretch, like an 0-for-10. He said that not all stretches like that are created equally, and sometimes you hit the ball hard and it just doesn't find a landing spot. The key for him will be trust the process when he feels he's having good plate appearances and believing that the results will follow.
"There are other times where you have a stretch like that and you watch video, you're breaking things down, and you see a definite flaw that needs to be addressed.
"Knowing when to make adjustments, knowing when not to make adjustments and just to trust yourself is a huge part of being able to sustain success at this level."
JASON BURKE
Jason is the host of the Locked on A's podcast, and the managing editor of Inside the A's. He's a new father and can't wait to take his son to his first baseball game at the Coliseum.