Rooker mashes HR No. 30, continues 'pretty special' season

OAKLAND -- Upon returning from the paternity list last week and with a big milestone on the horizon, Brent Rooker was hopeful the phenomenon known as “Dad Strength” would provide a boost. He’d already benefited from it in 2021, celebrating the birth of his first daughter, Blair, by launching a home run in his first game back.

Consider it a delayed display of “Dad Strength” for Rooker, who finally enjoyed his fatherly power surge in the eighth game of a nine-game homestand in Saturday’s 9-5 A’s loss to the Brewers at the Coliseum. Facing Milwaukee starter Colin Rea in the bottom of the sixth inning, Rooker slugged his 30th home run as part of a three-hit game with three RBIs.

With more than a month left in the regular season, Rooker has matched his career-high homer total from his 2023 All-Star campaign. The Statcast-projected 402-foot two-run blast into the left-field bleachers on a first-pitch cutter landed Rooker in exclusive company. He is just the second A’s player in the past 20 years to hit 30 or more home runs in consecutive seasons, joining Khris Davis, who did it three times from 2016-18.

“It’s pretty special,” manager Mark Kotsay said of Rooker’s 2024 season. “He’s going to continue to impress. What’s so great about Rook is he’s so humble, too, for the success he’s having. In a season that, in my opinion, he was snubbed from the All-Star team, to continue to just go out and put up numbers and show people why he should have been on that team -- we’re not where we’re at without him in the middle of the lineup right now.”

With this being the final season played at the Coliseum for the A’s before temporarily moving to Sacramento for the next three seasons ahead of a planned relocation to Las Vegas in 2028, Rooker will go down in the record books as the 10th and final A’s player in Oakland history (since 1968) to post two or more 30-homer seasons.

The rest of the list is a who’s who of A’s royalty, including a National Baseball Hall of Famer and several A’s Hall of Famers:

• Mark McGwire (eight seasons) between 1987-97
• Jose Canseco (five seasons) between 1986-91
• Reggie Jackson (four seasons) between 1969-75
• Khris Davis (three seasons) from 2016-18
• Miguel Tejada (three seasons) from 2000-02
• Jason Giambi (three seasons) from 1999-01
• Dave Kingman (three seasons) from 1984-86
• Matt Olson (two seasons) between 2019-21
• Eric Chavez (two seasons) from 2001-02

“Obviously, this is a really historic franchise with a lot of good players,” Rooker said. “[The Coliseum] is typically not a hitter-friendly park, so being able to do that playing here is pretty cool. That stat makes it a little bit more special, for sure.”

Rooker has keyed an improved A’s offense that entered the day tied for the 11th-most runs scored (207) in the Majors since July 1. During that span, Rooker is batting .338 (52-for-154) with 15 home runs, seven doubles and 40 RBIs in 42 games.

Despite not making the American League All-Star team like he did last season, Rooker considers himself without question a better player than he was a year ago. The numbers will back up that assessment. Among AL hitters as of Saturday evening, Rooker ranks fifth in slugging percentage (.569), sixth in homers, seventh in OPS (.935), eighth in RBIs (87) and ninth in on-base percentage (.366).

“I’m better than I was last year, which is always the goal,” Rooker said. “[I want to] keep that progress and path going until I’m as good a player as I can be. I don’t think I’m there yet, but the statistical things to back that up are pretty cool.”

How exactly does Rooker go about reaching his full potential?

“Continue to take steps forward as a hitter,” Rooker said. “Whether it’s swing-wise, approach-wise or game planning-wise, I just think I can continue to get better. That’s going to be my goal.”

With back-to-back losses to the Brewers -- who have won eight of their past 10 games -- to start this three-game set, Oakland has lost just its second series in the second half.

“We’ve been in both games,” Kotsay said. “They’ve added onto leads, which is what good teams do. We gave away seven free bases just on walks alone. … You see their athleticism. It’s one of the big reasons why they’re playing the baseball that they’re playing right now.”