Baseballs popped off bats, music blared from the speakers, and Brent Rooker, the A’s All-Star slugger, smiled as kids lined up for tips — and dance battles — at his first youth camp in Sacramento.
The camp took place Thursday evening at Depot Park and attracted nearly 70 ballplayers of all ages, from elementary school to high school. The three-hour skills camp began with the campers stretching and getting loose for the evening. Participants were taught basic baseball mechanics, including throwing, catching and hitting.
The camp included drills to improve catching ability such as shoulder catches, pop flies, catching on the run, scooping ground balls and catching and throwing.
Rooker, a two-time All-Star and Silver Slugger award winner, was visibly energized as he greeted campers and helped create an unforgettable experience for the youngsters, culminating in a dance battle and a question-and-answer session with the MLB star.
“It’s exciting. Got a great turnout. I think we got between 60 and 70 kids here. So a pretty wide variety of ages, too,” Rooker said. “I think there’s gonna be a bunch of opportunities to learn some things and then most importantly, have a good time.”
Rooker shared one of his favorite career memories — hitting his first home run in his debut season against the St. Louis Cardinals in 2020, when he played for the Minnesota Twins. He added that it was a full-circle moment because he grew up a Cardinals fan, the closest team to his hometown in Germantown, Tennessee.
The perfect birthday gift
Justin Jones of Vacaville enjoyed every moment on the diamond. Thursday’s camp was a birthday gift for him, as he turned 7 on Friday.
As upbeat music blared from speakers, providing a lively environment, Jones couldn’t contain himself and began dancing when the “Cha Cha Slide” played during a water break intermission.
The best part for Jones was meeting one of his favorite baseball players, where at first he was in disbelief.
“It was insane. I got to talk to him. I thought he was an imposter, because he doesn’t look like Brent Rooker, but he proved it,” Jones said. “I was very excited.”
Like Jones, many of the campers said their favorite part of the day was learning how to improve their batting stance, getting an up-close tutorial from one of Major League Baseball’s top hitters.
Rooker, who has hit 26 home runs and recorded 75 RBIs through 135 games this season, was well qualified to teach the kids, and he commanded their attention as he helped refine players’ swing mechanics.
“I obviously have memories of going to camps as a young kid and learning things and having a good time,” Rooker said. “And I think the main goal today is to send these kids home with the continued love for baseball and the desire to come back and work some more.”
He provided tips and advice by teaching kids to improve their stance by remaining balanced at the plate. He thoroughly explained to kids tactics he uses to help him at the plate versus other pitchers.
Rooker, along with other camp coaches, taught attendees the proper “load and stride” technique into launch position to help them generate power like he does.
He explained how using the lower body and hips to lead their swing will help them get power on hits.
His advice was to aim for a line drive over the head of the centerfielder, as it provides a wider margin of error on swings, rather than trying to get under the ball for home runs.
“I actually got a better understanding of having a stronger base,” Caleb Porter, a camp participant said. “I stand tall, but I was a lot more loose with my stance, but now strong.”
Porter, 13, also enjoyed the camp as an early birthday present. He had the opportunity to grab a photo with Rooker, as did the rest of the campers.
The Cordova High School student turns 14 on Labor Day. He’s been playing baseball since age 4. He plays basketball for fun, but is a baseball player at heart. At Cordova, he plays first base, outfield and occasionally pitches.
He said he hopes to get as far as he can playing baseball.
“I just want to work hard,” Porter said.
Rooker talks A’s hot streak
The A’s have been playing strong baseball since the All-Star break, and entered Thursday’s off day fresh off a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers before taking on the Texas Rangers for Labor Day weekend.
“We like what we’re building,” Rooker said Thursday. “We believe in the group that we have. We believe in what’s going on. And we’re looking forward to finishing this season on a strong note and building as much momentum as we can.”
A few of the high points during the season Rooker noted were their Tuesday walk-off win in extra innings against the Tigers and a pair of walk-off homers hit by rookie standout slugger Nick Kurtz in June.
“We’ve had a bunch of really good wins, some team wins where everyone’s contributed,” he said. “Those are kind of always ones that stand out.”
The team is nearing the end of its first season hosting games at Sutter Health Park, the home of the minor-league Sacramento River Cats.
“It presents a unique set of circumstances, and, in some ways, challenges, that playing in a standard stadium doesn’t present. But I think we’ve handled it well. We’ve adjusted, we’ve adapted. We made it our home and we’re looking forward to doing so again for the next two years.”
Rooker’s playful side was on full display as he joked with kids, threw pitches during hitting practice and provided inspiration to those in attendance.
One person who was motivated by his attendance was Jose Hernandez of Bay Tech High School in Oakland.
Hernandez, 15, wasn’t going to attend the camp unless he maintained straight A’s. Two things drove him to achieve that: his girlfriend Genesis Ochoa and the chance for an A’s fan to meet a player.
“Last year, I didn’t really care about school,” Hernandez said. I had all Fs. I barely even came to school. She mostly changed me. I’ve been dating her for a year, and I feel like she’s basically changed my whole mindset.”
Ochoa said that she hopes to be an inspiration for him.
“I’m always gonna support him. I’m gonna be his number one fan, always,” Ochoa said. “I want to be his inspiration for him to do better and really focus on his baseball career and just do better overall.
Ochoa added: “I’ve seen his progress in the few months that he’s been playing baseball and he’s been having a lot of improvement and a lot of motivation from Rooker, his coaches and everyone who has good vibes around him.”
Hernandez was appreciative of the experience, particularly hitting lessons since he plays travel ball and has been in a slump.
Hernandez has been an A’s fan since he was 2. He’s collected memorabilia such as A’s hats, an A’s vest decorated with pins he’s been collecting since he was 5. His highlight moment was getting a Rooker home run ball signed from when the team played at the Oakland Coliseum.
“It feels great meeting him. It’s amazing … just to say hi to him, just to see him,” Hernandez said.
The experience was able to happen because Ochoa’s mother, Patricia Gomez, wanted to show Hernandez something “different”.
“I brought this boy from East Oakland, under privilege, low income. I brought him to get a different view, different surroundings, different people, just a different crowd,” Gomez said. “We hustled to get that money to come out here. It was definitely worth the two and a half hour drive.”
She was thankful that Rooker held the camp saying “that he’s changing lives one at a time”.
“We appreciate it.” Gomez said. “I appreciate that he came out here and gave us a chance.”
She wanted to show Hernandez that there’s a chance for everybody.
“We don’t have what a lot of these other kids might have,” she said. With work, a good work ethic, good practice ethic, he’ll be able to maybe, one day play baseball in college.”
For Rooker it’s still surreal the impact that he can have on kids, but it’s “humbling”, he said. He was elated to have held his first youth camp.
“It’s still hard to believe sometimes, man, it’s just you never really fully grasp this kind of stuff, the status of being a big leaguer,” Rooker said. “So it’s extremely humbling, and it’s an honor to have these kids out here to hang out, learn some things and have some fun.”
