WEST SACRAMENTO – Brent Rooker arrived to the Athletics as a waiver claim in November 2022 while seriously contemplating forgoing a Spring Training to pursue opportunities to play in Japan.
You could easily understand why Rooker was considering the move. Baseball overseas is often a more lucrative opportunity to keep the Major League dream alive for players on the fringe, especially one such as Rooker. He was about to join his fourth organization in three years.
Just over three years later, you could say Rooker’s decision to give the A’s a shot has paid off.
He’s emerged as the leader of this young ballclub, and when they needed him most on Sunday afternoon, the slugger delivered not once, but twice with a two-homer game.
First was a tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh, then came a walk-off three-run blast in the 10th to secure the A’s first series win of 2026 with a 12-10 victory over the Astros at Sutter Health Park.
Rooker’s first two homers of the year were his 100th and 101st as a member of the A’s. He is the 30th player in franchise history to reach 100 homers with the A’s and the seventh-fastest to reach the century mark.
- Khris Davis - 356 games
- Mark McGwire - 393 games
- Matt Olson - 399 games
- Gus Zernial - 419 games
- Dave Kingman - 447 games
- Jose Canseco - 450 games
- Rooker - 453 games