Brent Rooker thrives in May

When the Oakland A’s released their renderings for the proposed Las Vegas stadium in March, there were a number of batting averages listed on the giant green screen that hung above the scoreboard. Most of them were pretty bullish, and as Foolish Baseball noted on Twitter, Brent Rooker’s .303 average really stood out.

Foolish Baseball meant it as a joke, and Rooker even responded to the tweet by saying he “catches pitches.”

However, since May 13 of this season, he has hit exactly .303 on the year. In the six games since that average has dipped a bit to .281 on the year, but that shouldn’t distract from the fact that he’s having a crazier month.

Heading into Monday’s day off, Rooker is 24-for-67 (.358) with six homers, 19 RBIs, a .419 OBP and his OPS sits at 1.106 for the month. He spent about a week in IL in April, which keeps him off the MLB charts, but if you set the minimum number of plate appearances required at 140 on the season, then Rook ranks as the 12th best hitter in baseball with a 163 wRC+. He is 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 he was 109% better than league average. The four players 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 left on their road trip and asked him how he would compare the hot streak he seems to have just started to the one he had at the start of last season.

“I feel better. I think I’m a better hitter now than I was then. 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 an A’s regular last April and went 24-for-67 (.358) with a .471 OBP and nine home runs. That’s the exact same number of strikeouts in the exact same number of at-bats, with a little less strikeout and a few less walks. Overall, 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.

I also asked him about his process when he hits a tough stretch like an 0 for 10. He said that not all stretches like this are created equal and sometimes you hit the ball hard and clean and it just can’t find a landing spot. The key for him will be to trust the process when he feels he has good plate appearances and believes the results will follow.

“There are other times when you have a stretch like that and you look at the videos, you screw things up, and you see a clear flaw that needs to be fixed.

“Knowing when to make adjustments, knowing when not to make adjustments and just trusting yourself is a big part of being able to sustain success at this level.”