For the Athletics, the 2023 MLB season was one to forget.
However, for first-time All-Star outfielder Brent Rooker, his breakout campaign forever will be near and dear to him.
Rooker joined KNBR 680's "Tolbert & Copes" on Thursday, where he was asked what it meant to finally receive consistent at-bats in the majors after bouncing around between three different organizations and multiple levels of the minor leagues before his opportunity with the A's.
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"It was gratifying in a lot of ways," Rooker said. "It was kind of just I thought for a while now I've had this capability to do what I did this year and to get up and get the opportunity to do so and kind of follow through at least in my belief in myself. It was fun, and like I said it was gratifying, it meant a lot to me.
"I kind of think back (to) if I got this shot earlier in my career could I have done the same thing? I don't know the answer to that question. I had the year last year where I spent most of the year in Triple-A with two different organizations and some of the experiences I might have had there and some of the at-bats I might have had there and the things I learned might have contributed to the success I had this year, so I think it happened at the right time in the right place with the right team and the right organization and I'm extremely thankful for it."
Rooker was Oakland's lone representative at the All-Star Game in Seattle and finished the season batting .246/.329/.488 with 30 home runs, 69 RBI and an eye-popping 130 OPS+ in 137 games played.
After a scorching start to the season, Rooker cooled down over the summer before catching fire again down the stretch. The A's final game of the season, a 7-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, was highlighted by Rooker's 30th home run, a milestone he badly wanted to reach.
Oakland Athletics
"I was on 29 until the last at-bat of the season and then I hit the 30th in the very last at-bat of my season, so it was a very good way to end it," Rooker explained.
"I spent the whole last week, the last five games I had 29. And I kept telling my teammates, that I would rather have 25 than 29. 29 just feels like zero. I had 22 coming into September, and I was like alright let's just get three, let's get to 25 and we're good. I hit three, then I was happy at 25, then I got hot and hit four in a week and then I was like well now if I don't hit the last one, what's the point of hitting four? 29 is zero, I've got to hit 30, or else I might as well have hit none."
Rooker's 30 homers not only led all A's hitters but were the most in a season by a member of the green and gold since Matt Olson's 39 homers in 2021.
Throughout a catastrophic 112-loss season, Rooker was one of the very few bright spots for Oakland and has an opportunity to help usher in a new era of A's baseball in 2024.