A’s All-Star hitter will miss the rest of season with knee injury. ‘A big blow’
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- Brent Rooker will miss the rest of the season after a left knee cartilage tear.
- Rooker was placed on the injured list June 12 for a left knee bone bruise.
- Kotsay said Rooker will have surgery, rehab with the A's, and remain in a leadership role.
Two-time Athletics All-Star designated hitter Brent Rooker will miss the rest of the season after a reevaluation of his left knee found a cartilage tear, A’s manager Mark Kotsay said Wednesday.
Rooker was initially placed on the 10-day injured list June 12 for a bone bruise in his left knee, which Kotsay said was caused by the lack of cartilage underneath his knee. He was reevaluated Tuesday at an Athletics facility at Stanford.
“This is a big blow,” Kotsay said. “In terms of replacing Rook, there’s not one guy that’s going to come in here and step in and do that type of production, but we’ll do our best to obviously fill that void and make a mess of the situation.”
The announcement comes as multiple A’s mainstays are out with various injuries: 2025 All-Star Jacob Wilson, outfielder Tyler Soderstrom, one of the team’s hottest hitters in Zack Gelof, defensive specialist Denzel Clarke, ace Luis Severino and reliever Mark Leiter Jr. are all on the IL with various timetables.
Rooker, 31, is known as one of the most durable players in the league, having played in all 162 games last season and mashing at least 30 home runs in each of the last three seasons. He was an All-Star in 2023 and 2025, widely considered an All-Star snub in his Silver Slugger 2024 campaign and a Home Run Derby participant in 2025.
In 48 games this season, Rooker had been struggling, slashing .200/.281/.389 with 10 home runs and a .670 on-base plus slugging percentage — on pace for by far the lowest of the first four full MLB seasons of his career.
However, Rooker may have been playing through his injury for much of that time. He told The Sacramento Bee and A’s reporter Manolo Hernandez Douen on June 17 that the injury happened on the base paths sometime around early-to-mid May.
“This could have been something that, over time, continued to deteriorate,” Kotsay said.
Kotsay said more details about the surgery will be shared at a later date. He also said Rooker will rehab with the A’s after his surgery, allowing him to continue in a leadership role as the 40-46 club hopes to make the playoffs for the first time since the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
“In terms of the leadership, that’s not gonna change,” Kotsay said. “He’s still gonna be in the dugout, he’s still gonna be a part of the group on a daily basis.”
