Was it the Brent Rooker Trade After All?

Just before Opening Day last season Derek Falvey and Thad Levine decided to part ways with Taylor Rogers. The timing may have been odd, but he was an aging-and-injured-closer coming off of a down year and heading into free agency. It was an opportunity to grab a controllable starter, even with injury history, in Chris Paddack while seeing Emilio Pagan as a throw in. Oh, and Brent Rooker went to San Diego in the deal as well.

Fast forward to today, and things have changed. Rogers is pitching with his twin Tyler Rogers for the San Francisco Giants. Pagan is a nightly tightrope act for the Twins, and has been the bane of the fanbase since he arrived. Paddack looked promising before undergoing Tommy John surgery again, and while he’ll eventually be back, Minnesota is playing the long game having extended him.

For Rooker, who is no longer with the Padres, he’s getting a chance to shine on an Oakland Athletics team needing any pick-me-up they can get.

Debuting for Minnesota in 2020 (after being a first round pick in 2017), the upside with Rooker was always his bat. He could hit for immense power, and was a superstar in college at Mississippi State. He doesn’t have a true defensive home, and that limits him, but if the swing-and-miss could be limited, he would have a pathway to regular playing time.

It was just a quick seven-game glimpse during the Covid-shortened 2020, but his 162 OPS+ was eye-popping to say the least. Injury then got him in 2021 and Rooker played just 58 games for Minnesota. Jettisoned by San Diego shortly after arriving, Rooker finished the 2022 season back in the American League with the Kansas City Royals.

Then came an opportunity to take over Oakland.

Across 22 games to start 2023 for the Athletics, Rooker has been the highlight of an otherwise awful team. Now set to move out of the Coliseum, nothing Oakland has provided their fans this season has been positive. Trying to do his best while signed for a paltry $725k (due to just 1.059 years of MLB service), Rooker is giving everyone more bang for their buck.

Rooker owns a .353/.465/.779 slash line thus far that’s buoyed by nine dingers. He has always had massive power potential but the 16/14 K/BB is arguably the greatest development of his breakout season. Having already accumulated 1.4 fWAR this season, Rooker has removed the negative tally attributed to his career thus far and is on a blistering pace.

For a guy who has always made loud contact, it’s truly in the quality of his hard-hit rate that things have been impressive. While he is about 7% lower than his hard-hit rate last year, his barrel rate is a staggering 24.1%, up nearly 10% over his career average. He creates soft contact only 11.1% of the time and has broken out by having purpose each time the ball meets the bat.

Not surprisingly, from a plate discipline standpoint, Rooker has also made substantial strides. He is taking more walks because of a career low 28.3% chase rate. Although the whiff rate is still in line with career averages, he has expanded the plate much less often this year. For a player with his profile, there will always be swing and miss, but offering on pitches you can do something with is of the utmost importance.

It truly has been a joy to watch the former Twins slugger break out for the Athletics, and his opportunity should continue to remain present all year. It remains to be seen what Paddack can give Minnesota, but for now, that deal has to be dubbed the Brent Rooker trade.