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Elephant Rumblings: Brent Rooker a bright spot in a lost season

Rooker has been one of the best players in the majors over the first quarter of the season

Texas Rangers v Oakland Athletics Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Brent Rooker helped the Oakland Athletics snap a five-game losing streak with a walk-off home run in the 10th inning to beat the Rangers 9-7. Rooker’s emergence has been a bright spot in an otherwise lost season for the A’s. Rooker had a double to go along with his 11th home run of the season which is tied for the American League lead and is fourth in the majors. For the season, Rooker is hitting .319/.428/.673 with a 203 wRC+. He is currently tied for seventh in the majors with 1.8 fWAR.

Esteury Ruiz also had a big game Friday with three hits, including his first major league home run. It has been fascinating for me to follow Ruiz over the first part of the season. He has been successful at the top of the order despite a minuscule walk-rate of 2.9%. His .341 on-base percentage is still a little on the low side, but has been propped up with 44 hits and nine hit by pitches, which leads the majors. Like Rooker, Ruiz has been an exciting player to watch and sometimes in loss seasons, you have to cling to individual performances.

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