OA have reached an agreement with the designated hitter Brent Rooker on a five-year, $60MM contract extension, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. The deal includes an option to buy out a sixth season that could push the value to $90MM. Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that the base value of the option is $22MM. Rooker is a client of The Bledsoe Agency.
It’s another important investment in what has been a big season for the A’s. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Rooker becomes the first A’s player to sign a five-year contract since the club extended the starting pitcher. Trevor Cahill for $30.5MM in 2011. It’s the team’s second $60MM+ investment this winter. Last month, they added Luis Severino with a three-year, $67MM free agent deal that represents the largest contract in franchise history.
Rooker getting such a contract would have been unthinkable two years ago. He received the A’s on waivers early in the 2022-23 season. Rooker was a 28-year-old DH/corner who had bounced between the Twins, Padres and Royals without much exposure to either position. As a former top 35 draft pick in the minors, he was a reasonable waiver target. The A’s certainly didn’t think this would work out so well, though.
The hard-throwing Rooker not only had the most successful reliever claim in recent memory but became one of baseball’s best hitters. He hit 30 home runs in 526 plate appearances to earn an All-Star in 2023. Despite missing the Midsummer Classic last season, Rooker took another big step forward. He connected on 39 homers, 26 doubles and a triple with a great .293/.365/.562 batting line in 614 plate appearances.
Rooker finished tied for fifth (and José Ramírez again Marcell Ozuna) on a home run. Only Aaron is the judge, Shohei Ohtani, Anthony Santander again Juan Soto hit more. Among hitters with at least 500 PAs, Rooker ranks in the top 20 in all three slash statistics. He finished sixth in the standings – behind Judge, Ohtani, Bobby Witt Jr.Soto once Jordan Alvarez.
It’s now been two seasons of borderline elite offensive production. Rooker has a .272/.348/.528 slash in over 1100 plate appearances in an A’s uniform. He is in the top 15 in slugging percentage and ranks ninth in homers since the ’23 campaign. He is a man in the middle of the order.
There is a decent amount of swing and miss in his game. Rooker has played more than 30% of the games for the As. Last year’s production was driven in part by a .362 average on balls in play that will be difficult to maintain. Rooker makes a ton of hard contact, though, so he’s likely in line for a modest BABIP decline rather than a major decline.
The practice of playing football took place at the end of last season. Rooker carried an uncontrollable .390 BABIP into the All-Star Break. That dropped to .333 in the second half. To his credit, Rooker has compensated by reducing his strikeout rate to a manageable 24.1% clip over that span. It remains to be seen whether he’ll maintain that level of communication, but it’s an encouraging development that may reassure the front office’s confidence in his chest.
More to come.
Source link
