STARKVILLE – When Brent Rooker left for New England to play summer baseball in May, he felt confident.
Coming off his redshirt freshman season at Mississippi State, Rooker found some success down the stretch and he was convinced a big summer was awaiting him.
“I felt like I struggled pretty early on in the SEC season, but towards the end of it I got better seeing those kind of arms every weekend,” Rooker said. “I got kind of accustomed to it and got used to having good at bats against good pitching. Going into the summer I was expecting to be pretty successful.”
He has carried that over into the fall, and will lead the Maroon Team against the Gray Team in the Bulldog World Series this week. The event gets underway today with a 5 p.m. first pitch from Dudy Noble Field. The World Series continues over the weekend at 4 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. The final game will be 5 p.m. on Wednesday of next week.
Rooker played in 34 of the Bulldogs’ 54 games last spring, making 18 starts at designated hitter and two in left field. He hit .257 in 74 at bats with 12 runs batted in, 10 runs, seven walks, three doubles and two home runs. He raised his average 40 points in 15 Southeastern Conference games, hitting .297 in 37 at bats.
With the Plymouth Pilgrims in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, he hit .360 with 10 home runs and 33 RBIs. He was named the NECBL Most Valuable Player and was the recipient of the 2015 NECBL Most Improved Player Award. Rooker finished his summer with the Brewester Whitecaps in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League. In just four games with the Whitecaps, Rooker had three hits, two RBIs, two walks, two runs, a double triple, and a home run.
MSU eighth-year coach John Cohen wasn’t surprised with the performance Rooker put on in the last few months.
“I think some really neat things happen when you go off in the summer. You can kind of find yourself,” he said.
Rooker’s fall has mirrored his summer. He leads the team with three home runs and 12 RBIs. Averages from fall scrimmages are not being released.
The Germantown, Tennessee, native hit a walk-off grand slam last Sunday in the final scrimmage for the Bulldogs.
Rooker has faced the likes of Dakota Hudson, Daniel Brown, Vance Tatum, and Zac Houston this fall. All are expected to have big seasons for the Bulldogs on the mound. Having success against those pitchers has only reassured Rooker can compete at this level.
His thought was solidified in a battle with Hudson earlier this fall.
“I got to two strikes against him and I fouled off a fastball,” Rooker said. “He threw it about 97 (miles per hour). Then he hung me a slider and I was able to hit a double down the left field line. It’s at-bats like that and being successful against some of the big-time arms we have here that just kind of makes me believe I’ve come a long way and I’m ready to step up and contribute at a high level this spring.”
The Bulldogs will be relying on Rooker this fall. MSU finished 24-30 overall and 8-22 and last in the SEC a season ago. The Bulldogs struggled at the plate, batting just .271 (ninth in the SEC).
There are still several months before the Bulldogs open the 2016 campaign in February, but Cohen has confidence Rooker can carry over his hot streak.
“You don’t have to worry about motivating Brent Rooker,” Cohen said. “He’s a highly motivated young man. He’s done it in the summer, now he wants to do it in the best league in America, the Southeastern Conference. I think that within itself is something that he’s very motivated by.”
Cohen referred to Rooker as a hard worker, intelligent and fierce competitor. Those characteristics also describe former Bulldog and current San Diego Padre prospect Hunter Renfroe.
Before his junior season, Renfroe had a big summer with Bethesda (Maryland) Big Train in the Cal Ripken Collegiate League earning Most Valuable Player honors. He hit .366, with 49 hits, a league best 16 home runs and 53 RBIs.
When talking about Rooker, Cohen drew some comparisons to Renfroe, but said there are some differences in the two players.
“I think both of them have a fast twitch, that explosive ability,” Cohen said. “I’m not so sure that Brent Rooker might not have as much as or even more bat speed than Hunter Renfroe. He probably doesn’t have the strength that Hunter had, but that’s certainly something that can come.”
Renfroe earned All-American honors during his junior season batting .345 with 16 home runs and 65 RBIs. He was taken 13th overall by the Padres in the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft.
As a senior at Evangelical Christian School, Rooker kept up with Renfroe’s junior year at MSU. He is humbled by the comparison, but he doesn’t see it.
“I like to try to be my own player and kind of have my own strengths and my own tools, but anytime you get mentioned in the same breath as Hunter Renfroe, especially at Mississippi State, it’s a huge honor,” Rooker said.
Rooker will be draft eligible when the 2016 season concludes, but he hasn’t given it much thought.
Rooker has showed his ability to be a force at the plate, and he is working on being able to pick up pitches out of the pitcher’s hand and going the opposite way with sliders better, but defense is where he needs to improve the most.
During his senior year in high school, he played first base, third base, shortstop, centerfield, and pitched. But he will more than likely be playing right field for the Bulldogs this spring.
“The reads are a little bit different,” Rooker said. “It’s a little more difficult getting reads off the bat in left and right field because the ball tends to tail or hook. The reads are a little more true in centerfield, but there is so much more ground to cover, it’s just a completely different position.”
In unrelated news, junior pitcher Paul Young was arrested for simple assault Tuesday stemming from an alleged incident last month on campus. He practiced with the Bulldogs Tuesday afternoon, but MSU did not comment on the situation.
The 2015 Bulldog recruiting class was ranked the fifth-best in the country by Baseball America Tuesday. Collegiate Baseball rated the rookie class as the third-best in the nation last month.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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