Rooker's 37th HR has A's pushing for Silver Slugger nod

CHICAGO -- The last A’s player who earned a Silver Slugger Award was third baseman Eric Chavez in 2002. Twenty-two years later, designated hitter Brent Rooker continues to bolster his candidacy down the stretch of his stellar season for Oakland.

“He continues to impress,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said after Oakland’s 4-3 loss to the White Sox on Sunday at Guaranteed Rate Field. “I think you've got to include this guy in the Silver Slugger conversation with that.

“I know [Houston’s] Yordan [Alvarez]'s having a great year as well. But Rook’s got him in a couple other categories, and that says something about the year that Rook’s having.”

Rooker launched his 37th home run of the season in the series finale, a Statcast-projected 407-foot blast to left-center field on a first-pitch fastball from White Sox rookie starter Sean Burke.

The blast, which extended Rooker’s on-base streak to 25 games, had a 108.5 mph exit velocity. It came three innings after he just missed going deep. He flew out to center field in the third, and according to Statcast, that drive went 405 feet, had a 104.4 mph exit velocity and would have gone out in nine ballparks.

“I was a little annoyed, still, that the first one didn’t go out, so it might have been a little extra something behind it,” Rooker said of his home run swing. “But I thought [Burke] was gonna try to be aggressive and get ahead of me there, so I was looking for a fastball in the middle of the plate and that's what I got. I put a good swing on it.”

“He didn't miss the fastball today,” Kotsay said. “It was more of an angry swing, that third at-bat there.”

Rooker and Alvarez appear to be the top Silver Slugger candidates this season among American League designated hitters. Rooker has made 119 of his 133 starts as the DH, and Alvarez has made 90 of his 140 starts there, with more coming in left field. Both are having stellar seasons:

Brent Rooker: 561 plate appearances, .301/.371/.581, 25 doubles, 37 home runs, 107 RBIs, 169 wRC+
Yordan Alvarez: 606 plate appearances, .308/.393/.568, 31 doubles, 34 home runs, 84 RBIs, 167 wRC+

For Rooker, 2024 has been a continuation of his breakout ‘23 campaign, when he hit 30 home runs with 69 RBIs and recorded an .817 OPS in 137 games. He could become the fifth player in Oakland history to hit .300 with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs in a season this year. It would also be the seventh instance in franchise history, after Miguel Tejada (2002), Jason Giambi (1999-01), Mark McGwire (‘96) and Jose Canseco (‘88) pulled off the feat.

“I've learned a lot,” Rooker said of his season. “I always say my ultimate goal is to be a better hitter. Continue to be a better hitter at the end of each week, each month, each season that I was at the beginning of whatever time period.

“I think I've done a good job of doing that throughout the course of this year. So that's what I'm looking to do: Just learn and then take the things I've experienced this year and take each at-bat and kind of build them into the next at-bat to try to just become as good as I could possibly be.”

If Rooker hits 40 homers, it would put him in quite rare company in franchise history. Only Giambi, McGwire and Canseco have recorded a .300 average, 40 homers and 100 RBIs in a season.

“If he finishes at .300, 40 [homers] and 100 RBIs, that’s an unbelievable year,” catcher Shea Langeliers said. “But even right now, very few people have done what he's done. He's just been unbelievable to watch and just be along for the ride with and just talk to. It's been a lot of fun.”

Rooker’s homer cut the A’s deficit to one run, but a Bryan Ramos solo homer made it 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Langeliers hit a pinch-hit solo homer in the ninth to cut the deficit to one before Oakland dropped the rubber match of the three-game set.

The A’s went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base.

“Really, a lack of the big hit,” Kotsay said. “We had traffic early. We couldn't take advantage of the guys that we had on base with a big hit.”