Royals gave up on Brent Rooker too soon


Following the end of his tenure with the Padres, the Royals decided to "take a chance" on Brent Rooker. Kansas City acquired the outfielder from San Diego for catcher Cam Gallagher. According to Fox 4: "He has appeared in just two games this season with the Padres, but had a .201 average with nine home runs in 58 games with the Twins last year."  Rooker appeared in 14 games for the Royals, and unfortunately his output in Kansas City wasn't what the team had hoped. With the Royals, the outfielder hit an abysmal  .160 with two runs batted in. Following a few bad showings for the Royals, Kansas City designated Rooker for assignment on November 15. Two days later, the Athletics claimed the outfielder off outright waivers. The move was one that many probably didn't expect to make a big impact for the Athletics. The Royals started kicking themselves almost immediately, whether they wanted to admit it or not. Oakland didn't originally plan to give Rooker everyday reps. In fact, they planned to use him as a platoon player. The title platoon wasn't attached to Rooker long. On April 10, the Athletics placed outfielder Seth Brown on the ten day injured list with a strained left oblique. Rooker certainly took advantage of his playing time with the Athletics. The 28-year old has played in over 100 games for Oakland. While with the Athletics this season, he was selected to the All-Star game and rightfully so. The outfielder has posted a mediocre batting average of  .243; and although the batting average might not be great, it doesn't tell the entire story of the outfielder's career year. Rooker this season has been a big bat in the Athletics lineup. The former first round draft selection has hit more home runs this season than the Royals and the Athletics probably ever expected. Rooker became a popular name in Athletics media and in his home City of Memphis: " That was one of the more special moments I think," said Rooker. He continued: "Just kind of getting that realization that I actually was there, and I actually made the team, and I'm surrounded by all these players who are unbelievable at their craft". The Athletics outfielder went on to say: "That was another cool part of it, was being able to get in there and actually get a hit, contribute to the game in some way,” said Rooker. “It kind of just made the experience that much more special.” In the same article, the outfielder talked about his battle to reach the big leagues and stay there for the long haul: "It was constantly kind of battling, you know wondering if that’s just what I was?” says Rooker. “If I was a guy who was maybe too good for Triple-A but not good enough for the big leagues. Or trying to figure out, are there one or two things I need to change? Or an approach adjustment I need to make to allow that success to carry over and something to click at the highest level.” Kansas City gave up on a player that didn't get an opportunity to show what he was really made of, and the Royals unfortunately have a history of giving up on players too quickly before the player could find their strid in KC. Now that Dayton Moore is out of the picture, the chances of the Royals giving players good long looks seems to be more unlikely under JJ Picollo. In an interview with KCTV5, Picollo made it clear that the team is willing to move on from any player: "Our approach will be the same in the offseason. Any deal with a player that’s talented and has a lot of control, we have to stick to what we think is the right return and get the most impact in return that we can.” Fans need to be prepared to see Kansas City move on from players that struggle with the big league team, causing the team to possibly lose a player that could find success with their new team like Rooker did with the Athletics.




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