It took a little time, along with two trades and a stint on waivers before slugger Brent Rooker landed with the Oakland Athletics and established himself as one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball. The A’s must like having him around, in no small part because Rooker looks like he approaches pitches with murderous intentions for the baseball. But there’s more to him than just big swings and long dingers.
Having already covered with Rooker the Athletics moving to West Sacramento, Pitcher List recently had a chance to speak with him about what he looks for in a pitch, a baseball uniform, and breakfast on the road in the AL West.
Pitcher List: You have been very active on social media, taking fans with you in a way on road trips, showing them good places for breakfast and other activities. Have you considered starting a blog or podcast or PDF as something of an expert traveler?
The first day of the off-season means it’s time for the second edition of My Favorite Breakfasts That I Ate This Season list.
A few notes after last year:
– This is not meant to be a ranking or a review system, just me listing my favorites
– There are a few more Bay Are…— Brent Rooker (@Brent_Rooker25) September 30, 2024
Brent Rooker: I keep a notes app on my phone of just various restaurants I like to go to. That’s about as in depth as I like to go. I keep it a little more casual, a little more light and just kind of throw stuff out there as I see it or as I experience it. I think social media is the best medium for me to be able to do that in a kind of light-hearted and fun way.
PL: What’s the best breakfast spot in the AL West?
BR: I like — oh, what’s the place in Seattle? They have a shakshouka that’s really good. I’ve been there four or five times.
PL: A who?
BR: Shakshouka is a breakfast dish. Basically eggs that are poached in like a tomato sauce with some onions and spices in there, and some sourdough bread, and I get a side of bacon. Lola. It’s called Lola in Seattle.
PL: Do you go on these adventures with teammates or are you on your own?
BR: Both. It depends on if guys want to get up and go. Obviously, guys have different schedules — whose family’s in town, and whatever. But, yeah, I’ll take guys with me, or go with guys, or I’m not afraid to go myself.
PL: Who has the funniest fans in the league when you go and play the outfield?
BR: Cleveland’s. I’ve heard some funny stuff in Cleveland. New York, if you know how to take it, can be a good time. But funny and mean kind of go hand in hand, so if you’re able to deal with it, that’s where the humor goes. You have to play along with it. You have to laugh at yourself and make it as tolerable as possible.
PL: Don’t know if you play fantasy sports, but Wyatt Langford of the Rangers said he doesn’t want to talk about his ADP in fantasy baseball because the topic is too close to gambling. Have you ever thought if it like that before?
BR: It’s right along that line. Obviously, we do not participate in it, we can’t give out information that would be beneficial or anything else to people who play it. So I would, I think Wyatt is being very smart to be cautionary there.
PL: Can you believe the league is letting the A’s get away with cloning Max Muncy?
BR: That is funny but I like our Max Muncy, he’s a good player. Obviously, the the older, the established Max Muncy is also a very, very good player, but I like our kid out there. He’s, he’s got a lot of ability. He’s gonna be a big player.
PL: You’ve been around a couple organizations. What’s the coolest uniform you’ve worn and what’s the dumbest?
BR: I love our uniforms. I think our kelly-green uniforms are awesome. I think the gold uniforms we’re gonna wear this year are gonna be great. I like the uniforms in Kansas City as well. I don’t love the Padres City Connects. People like them a lot, and I understand why they like them, it’s just not necessarily my favorite.
PL: Do you think, for a right-handed hitter, you have a pretty swing?
BR: I don’t like my swing, but other people do. I don’t. I don’t love the way it looks aesthetically, but it’s effective. So I kind of roll it.
PL: It reminds me of Dave Kingman a little bit.
BR: I know the name but I don’t have a picture of his swing in my head but I have heard of him.
PL: Do you want to lead the league in bat speed?
BR: I mean, I would love to, but I don’t think it’s possible for me.
PL: Do you already go up there and just hack as hard as you can?
BR: I do, kind of! I feel like I’m giving it some pretty good effort with the swings I take in a game. I’m in the higher tier (78%) of the league. But I don’t think I have it in me to to beat out (Tyler) O’Neill or somebody who else up there like Giancarlo (Stanton) or Aaron (Judge) or guys like that.
PL: So you’re trying for a home run literally every time?
BR: Not a home run specifically, but when I swing, I have the intent to hit the ball hard and in the air, and then let the results kind of take it from there, or fall from there.
PL: You’ll take a double.
BR: Doubles are great. Love doubles, love singles — any way to get on base is fantastic.
PL: If Larry Bowa were here, he’d probably advise we choke up with two strikes. Do you chuckle at this?
BR: I do choke up. I choke up with two strikes, sometimes I choke up with no strikes. I choke up depending on who the pitcher is and what I think he’s gonna try to do.
PL: So how far?
BR: A half-inch, inch, maybe not a ton, but definitely enough to notice the difference in terms of how the bat feels.
PL: I saw video of you last year, you hit a home run against Tarik Skubal and you could tell, as soon as you swung, he was, like: “Dang, he got me.” do you notice that kind of stuff as you’re trotting?
BR: You don’t notice it in the moment but you notice it when you go back and watch the video. When you’re making contact, normally we try to track the ball and see where it’s going. So you don’t really notice those things. But I remember that one. I got it early in Detroit when it was like 30 degrees and snowing. It was freezing.
PL: I’ve heard there’s a margin for error in the ABS system. We already have human error with the system there is, do we not?
BR: I think I read that. My opinion on the ABS is still undecided, undetermined. It’s gonna be tough to have anything 100% precise. I don’t really know, I’m not very technologically savvy, but, yeah, I mean, there’s, it’s probably a smaller margin for error than there is with the human element. So I guess if that’s what they’re trying to eliminate, then it’s effective.
PL: I don’t know if you played pickup basketball, but you call your own fouls. How would you guys do if we didn’t have umpires and you just called your own balls and strikes?
BR: There’d a lot arguing (laughs), a lot of disagreements between pitchers and hitters.
PL: You couldn’t keep it professional?
BR: I don’t think so! Pitchers would want a few more than we’d be willing to give.
PL: Is it true that some hitters can see the stitches on the ball, and tell spin as it’s coming in? How is your vision?
BR: I think that, scientifically, we know you cannot see the spin, process the spin and then change anything we do with the swing based on the spin. I think that’s true. I could be wrong.
PL: Ted Williams might have said otherwise?
BR: I mean, he might have a different opinion. But I think the visual studies done and the science says that we can’t do that. We’re making decisions based on other things: pitch shape, release point, things like that.
PL: And you don’t have a lot of time?
BR: It’s very, very quick, and you can double-check, fact-check me there, but I believe I’ve read that before. You do recognize, you see seams on pitches, but it’s just whether or not you have time to see it and process it and then make a decision based on that. That’s the big one.
PL: Do you find the sound of batting practice, just the ball hitting the bat, to be almost intoxicating sometimes?
BR: Yeah! It’s … it’s nostalgic in a way. It’s also, it’s what we do daily. So it’s very routine, it’s been ingrained in us as part of our routine. It’s part of our process and our daily life. So it’s therapeutic.
PL: Did you notice last year when the A’s and Major League Baseball produced a hat that actually looked like “A-s-s”?
BR: I did see that but only on social media.
PL: How cool would it be to wear those in a game, or the Rangers hat that came out in spring training?
BR: It would be interesting! I don’t know if it’s in the best interest of anyone involved but, yeah, some funny kind of oversights there with those. I probably would not have approved those if they asked me. I’d like to think I probably would have seen the… seen the chance for it to become a meme, and probably would have shut it down pretty quick.
Dave Brown is a BBWAA member and a Hall of Fame voter who has covered Major League Baseball since 1998. Find him @AnswerDaveBrown on Twitter, @AnswerDave on Bluesky and at @answerdave.brown@gmail.com.
