With their second pick of the night — No. 35 overall, pick No. 5 of Competitive Balance Round A — the Minnesota Twins selected collegiate outfielder/first baseman Brent Rooker out of Mississippi State. The school’s website lists Rooker at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, and he throws and swings right-handed. He’ll turn 23 on Nov. 1.
Rooker is an absolute mauler, and is coming off a junior season where he hit .387/.495/.810 with 23 home runs, 30 doubles and three triples in 67 games. He hit nearly half of his team’s 59 home runs, and ranked 14th in the country in batting average, sixth in on-base percentage and first in slugging percentage while finishing tied for fifth in home runs.
Rooker had some steam coming into the season — he was a 2017 Collegiate Baseball Preseason Third-Team All-American — but he blew even those expectations out of the water with his incredible season. On May 31, Rooker was listed among the 25 semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award, which is handed out to the top amateur player in the United States and is presented in partnership with the Rod Dedeaux Foundation.
Previous winners include:
- Kyle Lewis (2016)
- Andrew Benintendi (2015)
- A.J. Reed (2014)
- Kris Bryant (2013)
- Mike Zunino (2012)
- Trevor Bauer (2011)
- Bryce Harper (2010)
- Stephen Strasburg (2009)
- Buster Posey (2008)
The finalists will be announced on Wednesday, June 14, and voting will begin then and cease on June 23, before the winner is announced on Thursday, June 29.
Rooker won the SEC Triple Crown and the conference’s player of the year award, though he did lose out to Louisville’s Brendan McKay — whom the Twins considered at No. 1 — for the honor of being Baseball America’s College Player of the year. That spawned this funny moment on Twitter.
If the full reply doesn’t thread, TDM’s tweet was in response to the announcement of McKay as the winner.
Not only is Rooker humble, but he’s pretty smart, too. He’s made the SEC Academic Honor Roll in each of the last three seasons. He also should move fairly quickly through the Twins system, with farm director Sean Johnson suggesting he could start at Low-A Cedar Rapids or even as high as High-A Fort Myers to get his professional career underway.
This isn’t the first time the Twins have drafted Rooker, either. They took him in the 38th round last year, and he did not sign. He was also a 2013 Tennessee Mr. Football finalist after collecting 3,300 yards of total offense and 33 touchdowns, per a team release.
https://twitter.com/PawDawgSports/status/874476206745296896
Here’s what people are saying about Rooker:
Whatever it’s worth, Rooker is listed as having run a 4.65 40-yard dash with a 36-inch vertical jump, so he is rather athletic.
Baseball America listed Rooker as its No. 5 first baseman available in the draft, and No. 45 among its BA 500 draft list.
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MinorLeagueBall.com called Rooker a “devastating college hitter” and a good value at pick No. 35. Here’s their full report, which suggests he’s a fine all-around athlete and has shown great performance and intangibles, but will also need to show he has the plate discipline and mechanics to succeed against higher-end talent.
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2080Baseball.com had Rooker ranked as their No. 50 player, and said that he looks like a first baseman at the next level, but could “hold his own in a corner outfield spot thanks to solid foot speed.” Essentially, Rooker landed in exactly the situation they expected him to.
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Here is some good (and fun) YouTube footage of Rooker:
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