MESA, Ariz. -- Neither
After getting the first long ball out of the way on Wednesday against the Guardians at Goodyear Ballpark, Rooker was given a day off Thursday before returning to the A’s starting lineup on Friday, homering again during a 10-1 victory over the Royals at Hohokam Stadium.\n\nIt was a vintage swing from Rooker, one the A’s have grown accustomed to seeing from the slugger with 69 home runs to his name over his first two seasons with the club. Having already doubled in the first inning off Royals ace Cole Ragans, Rooker came to the plate again in the second and turned on a first-pitch slider from the 2024 AL Cy Young finalist, tagging it at an exit velocity of 103.7 mph for a two-run blast that traveled well up the left-field berm.
“It’s always a good reminder to know you can still do it,” Rooker said of his two homers over the last three days. “I had been pretty pleased with a lot of my at-bats before the last two games. I had hit several balls where the quality of contact was good enough to be homers and they were just to the wrong part of the field or on a windy day or whatever. So, I felt pretty good. But seeing results is always nice.”
Rooker’s results have been spectacular over the past two seasons, following up an All-Star 2023 campaign with an even better overall 2024 that ended with him regarded as one of the game’s elite hitters and earned him a five-year, $60 million contract extension this offseason.
Beyond the numbers, this Spring Training has been going according to plan for Rooker. Working closely with A’s director of hitting Darren Bush, Rooker Rooker mapped out an offensive plan of attack throughout spring. That formula is divided into segments of about 10-15 at-bats, with a goal of reaching around 45-50 at-bats by the end of camp. After Friday’s game, Rooker sits at 37 at-bats with three Cactus League games left.\n\n“I have a better idea this year of what actually works than I did last year, so I’m able to be even more specific with my plans,” Rooker said. “The first 10-15 at-bats, we were trying to accomplish one thing. Once we felt we were doing that well, we moved on to the next thing. We’ve been able to have a pretty specific plan in terms of how we’ve attacked. … Coming off last year, I know what works. I know what it looks like when I’m going well. We have a pretty drawn out, specific path to how we want my at-bats to go.”
The A’s entered spring with sky-high expectations to compete for the playoffs in 2025 after their encouraging second half of ‘24. Rooker is at the heart of that strong belief system as a leader and expected game-changer at the plate.\n\nWith less than a week until Opening Day, Rooker appears to be heating up at just the right time.\n\n“The biggest thing for us is that he feels good,” manager Mark Kotsay said of Rooker. “He feels right with his mechanics. He’s been working this last week on it, and I think he’s found where he wants to be. He’s in a good position.”
**SEVERINO’S FINAL TUNEUP**\n\nMaking one last Cactus League start before taking the mound for the A’s on March 27 for Opening Day against the Mariners at T-Mobile Park,