Terry Brent Rooker Jr. (born November 1, 1994) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2020 with the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

and has also played for the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

and

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

Amateur career

Rooker attended

Evangelical Christian School Evangelical Christian School, also known as ECS, is a private, non-denominational, evangelical Christian school in Memphis and Germantown, Tennessee. It was founded in 1965 and joined Association of Christian Schools International in 1984. It ho ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, and enrolled at

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA Division I. Sports sp ...

. Rooker

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

for the 2014 season. He played in 34 games in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, hitting .257/.325/.378 with two

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 12

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(RBIs). In

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, he helped lead the Bulldogs to an

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) championship, hitting .324/.376/.578 with 11 home runs and 54 RBIs. In 2016, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Brewster Whitecaps The Brewster Whitecaps are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Brewster, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Whitecaps play their home games at Stony Brook ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

, and was named a league all-star. In

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, Rooker was named ''Collegiate Baseball'' national Player of the Year and

SEC Player of the Year Southeastern Conference Player of the Year refers to the most outstanding player for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in a given sport for a given season. For lists of individual sport SEC Players of the Year by year: *Southeastern Conference Bas ...

after leading the conference with a .387 batting average, 23 home runs, and 82 RBIs, winning only the second triple crown in SEC history, along with a .495 on base percentage, .810 slugging percentage, 30 doubles, and 18 stolen bases. He also won the

C Spire Ferriss Trophy The C Spire Ferriss Trophy was created in the fall of 2003 by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame to honor the Mississippi Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year. The trophy bears the name and likeness of Dave Ferriss. The trophy is cosponsored by ...

, given to Mississippi's top college baseball player.

Professional career

Minnesota Twins

The

selected Rooker with the 35th overall selection of the 2017 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft. He signed with the Twins for a $1.935 million

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

. Rooker was assigned to the

Elizabethton Twins The Elizabethton Twins were a Minor League Baseball team of the Appalachian League and a Rookie-level affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They were located in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and were named for their major league affiliate. The team playe ...

and was later promoted to the

Fort Myers Miracle The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Fort Myers, Florida, and play their home games at the Lee County Sports Complex a ...

. In 62 games between both clubs, he batted .281/.364/.566 with 18 home runs, 52 RBIs, and a .930 OPS. He spent 2018 with the

Chattanooga Lookouts The Chattanooga Lookouts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team plays its home g ...

. He batted .254/.333/.465 with 22 home runs (2nd in the Southern League), 79 RBIs (leading the league), 32 doubles (tied for the league lead), and 150 strikeouts (4th) in 130 games. He spent 2019 with the

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...

, earning

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

All-Star honors. Over 65 games, he hit .281/.398/.535 with 14 home runs and 47 RBIs. After the season, on October 10, he was selected for the

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team represents the United States in international-level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Team USA won the Olympic baseball to ...

in the

2019 WBSC Premier 12 The 2019 WBSC Premier12 was an international baseball championship featuring the 12 highest-ranked national teams in the world, held by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). It was the second WBSC Premier12 event. The championship w ...

. In the tournament he batted .300/.333/.800 with three home runs and five RBIs in 20 at bats. He was named the best designated hitter in the tournament. On September 4, 2020, Rooker was promoted to the major leagues for the first time and made his major league debut that day against the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

San Diego Padres

On April 7, 2022, the Twins traded Rooker,

Taylor Rogers Taylor Allen Rogers (born December 17, 1990; nicknamed "Lefty Piece") is an American professional baseball pitcher for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Minnesota Twins, San Diego Pa ...

, and cash considerations to the

in exchange for

Chris Paddack Christopher Joseph Paddack (born January 8, 1996) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his debut in 2019 with the San Diego Padres. During his 2019 season, he earned the nic ...

Emilio Pagán Emilio Enrique Pagán (born May 7, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Tampa Bay Rays, Seattle Mariners, Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres. ...

, and a

player to be named later In Major League Baseball, a player to be named later (PTBNL) is an unnamed player involved in exchange or "trade" of players between teams. The terms of a trade are not finalized until a later date, most often following the conclusion of the seaso ...

Kansas City Royals

On August 2, 2022, the Padres traded Rooker to the

in exchange for

Cam Gallagher Cameron Joseph Gallagher (born December 6, 1992) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Kansas City Royals. Professional career Kansas City ...

Oakland Athletics

On November 17, 2022, Rooker was claimed off outright waivers by the

References

External links

Mississippi State Bulldogs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rooker, Brent 1996 births Living people All-American college baseball players Baseball players from Tennessee Brewster Whitecaps players Chattanooga Lookouts players Elizabethton Twins players Fort Myers Miracle players Gulf Coast Twins players Kansas City Royals players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball outfielders Minnesota Twins players Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball players People from Germantown, Tennessee Rochester Red Wings players San Diego Padres players St. Paul Saints players United States national baseball team players 2019 WBSC Premier12 players