SACRAMENTO – Brent Rooker buttoned up his familiar white No. 25 jersey, but this time over a crisp shirt. The Athletics’ designated hitter and outfielder addressed the media on Thursday after signing a contract extension.
“I’m excited,” Rooker said. “This is more than I could have dreamed of when I first became a part of this organization two years ago. Me and Allie, the rest of my family, are incredibly grateful to everyone here.”
Rooker, 30, said that playing for the A’s is where he wants to be.
“I’m hoping that’s what this communicates,” he said. “The second thing I hope this communicates is that this organization and this team is a very desirable place to play right now for a lot of reasons. Mainly because of the group of people that we have involved on a day-to-day basis. From top to bottom with this team. I love it here, and I’m excited for the next five years… hopefully six.”
Rooker’s contract is a five-year deal with a club option for 2030, worth $60 million. It’s the largest annual value of any contract extension in Athletics history.
Worth every penny.
Just two seasons ago, Rooker was the last guy A’s manager Mark Kotsay told would be making the Opening Day roster.
Brent Rooker, Athletic pic.twitter.com/Mz9jum20Y3
— Jessica Kleinschmidt (@KleinschmidtJD) January 9, 2025
In 2023, Rooker was named to the AL All-Star team in 2023 and hit 30 home runs on the season.
And in 2024, Rooker put together a .293/.365/.562 slash line (a .927 OPS) with 39 homers and 112 RBI. He earned a Silver Slugger Award and finished 10th in AL MVP voting.
A’s general manager David Forst said Rooker fit the bill to receive such an extension and to be the face of the franchise in years to come.
“We don’t get to do these too often, and when we do, we make sure we pick the right guy, and Rooker is absolutely the right guy for this extension. In two years with the club, he’s established himself, both on and off the field. He really is the leader of this team.”
Forst said Rooker’s impact was apparent immediately when he arrived in 2023.
Before that, Rooker almost had a different story. One overseas.
Two years ago ,Rooker discussed with his agent, Dustin Bledsoe, about the possibility of calling Forst about a release to play in Japan.
“Like that was a very real consideration… and now the conversations we’re having was like, ‘Hey, David wants to give you $60 million — You want that or no?'” Rooker said.
Just imagine.
Rooker was able to celebrate with teammates when he got the news of the extension. JP Sears, JJ Bleday, and Lawrence Butler were courtside at a Sacramento Kings game when Rooker took the call. It meant a lot to share the moment with those guys.
“It was a pretty special time,” Rooker said.
Kotsay got a front seat to Rooker’s journey.
“There’s not a better person than Brent Rooker that’s deserving of this type of reward, and he’s earned it,” Kotsay said. “And the perseverance that he’s shown through his career to stay with the processes, to be open-minded and understand that it is a game of failure, but yet, to get through that failure, you have to grind, and he’s the exam example of that grind.”
Rooker will head into 2025 with an up-and-coming team filled with young players who showed some signs of life last season. Being a leader comes naturally to him in that clubhouse with all the roles he’s played in his career.
He’s been the guy trying to establish himself, a guy who gets sporadic at-bats coming off the bench, or even the guy on his last opportunity to establish himself.
Things are certainly different now.
“And then I’ve been a guy in the middle of the order every day and who produces at a very high level,” he said.
Rooker underwent right elbow surgery this offseason to do some clean-up on an issue, but he said he’ll be ready to go by spring training.
