Elephant Rumblings: A’s, Rooker finish April on high note

Happy Monday, Athletics Nation!

The A’s managed to end April on a high note yesterday with a walk-off win courtesy of Esteury Ruiz. A’s DH and outfielder Brent Rooker continued his hot streak in contributing to the A’s win, going 2-for-2 with his ninth home run of the season. The A’s have still lost all nine of their series so far in 2023, but hey—let’s get back to Brent Rooker, shall we?

We’ve made it through the first full month of the 2023 season, and Rooker has churned out offensive numbers on par with the game’s best. He’d be leading MLB in both slugging and OPS, except that his 86 plate appearances don’t quite meet the qualifying minimum.

Rooker has averaged a dinger per slightly less than ten PAs. Martin Gallegos at MLB.com noted that Rooker’s nine home runs in April were the most an Athletic has hit in that month since Khris Davis hit 10 in 2017, and just two short of the franchise record of 11 set by mighty Mark McGwire in 1997.

Gallegos believes that Rooker deserves consideration for AL Player of the Month honors. I don’t expect The Rook to get that nod given his limited time in the field, but he is unquestionably swinging the bat with the best of them, and we at AN can’t stop talking about Rooker, because he is by far the A’s brightest star of this young 2023 season.

A’s Coverage:

• Willis: Esteury Ruiz delivers a walk-off as A’s beat Reds 5-4
• Gallegos: Rooker caps ‘eye-opening’ April with a bang
• Mehaffey: A’s stadium math doesn’t add up
• Kawahara: Trevor May back with A’s, ‘much better’ in battle with anxiety issues ($)

MLB News & Interest:

• Polishuk: Mike Yastrzemski To Undergo MRI For Hamstring Strain
• Polishuk: Bryce Harper To Visit Doctor, Could Be Activated For Tuesday’s Game
• Deeds: Mike Shannon Passes Away
• Rome and The Athletic: Astros’ José Urquidy exits early vs. Phillies with shoulder soreness, will see doctors Monday ($)
• Leitch: 2 surprise teams make big jumps in Power Rankings
• Today in Baseball History

Best of Twitter:

Ruiz snatches 11 bags in April, a 33 year franchise high mark.

Roster moves.

Good things happening in Midland.

Four runs are half what we’re used to lately so...keep on burning!