Subpar - MLB All-Star Brent Rooker compares Scottie Scheffler's dominance to Shohei Ohtani's and reveals his favorite courses to play on the road

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

On this week's episode GOLF's Subpar, Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by Athletics' outfielder Brent Rooker. The two-time MLB All-Star shares how Scottie Scheffler's dominance compares to Shohei Ohtani's, his favorite courses to play during road trips and which city's fans he hears from the most when playing the outfield. --The new Callaway Quantum drivers combine ultra-thin titanium, PolyMesh, and carbon in the new Tri-Force face — built for serious speed and distance.Experience the Quantum Leap at callawaygolf.com--If you’re guessing with your driver, you’re leaving control on the table — Diamana is built for tighter dispersion and start lines you can trust.Get fit and find your perfect Diamana at LoveYourDriverMore.com

All right, welcome back to another episode of Subpar with Colt Nost and Drew Stoltz. The Florida swing has started. And what a wild finish we had at the Cognizant Classic. If you just happen to look at the leaderboard, you might think Nico Etchavaria just cruised to a little two-shot victory. But that was definitely not the case, Lee's. This tournament was in Shane Lowry's hands, and he had an absolute disaster coming down the stretch, finding the water off the T on 16, making actually a pretty good double bogey when it was all sitting done. And then once again, find out of the game. in the water on 17. The bear trap bit him. But man, that thing looked like it was over. I was about

to take a nap after he hit the green on 15 and then all of a sudden, oh dear God. Sitting there on 15, I was like he's got two shots left to hit. T shot on 15, T shot on 17. 16's part of the bear trap, but it's not like you can make bogey, but like it's not a huge number lurking like the other one, like 15 and 17. The water's really not in play. It's, I mean, what was it? Two guys the entire week and the only one on the weekend was Shane with an iron. Like he hits iron there every day, the same club. You see bogeys. You just don't see balls in the water.

I mean, it barely crossed land. It could have easily been a re-te. It didn't really matter. He still laid it up, you know, down there and then proceeded to hit probably the worst iron shot, minus the one that was upcoming on 17 from the fairway. Unbelievable bunker shot, by the way, all world bunker shot and still had a good chance at that point.

17, I was like, this goes left. It goes left of left. Like, I'll understand. I get it, you know? Like, you just wiped one on the previous hole. The last thing you want to do is miss right, obviously. I was shocked when that ball went in the one. And not it just went in.

Like, it was closer to the, it was closer to where Jimmy Stanger hit it, by the way, which was in the freaking time shares over there. I was shocked, shocked by that. The double double, his only time he's had back-to-back doubles in his entire career. Pressure is a weird thing. Yeah, it was nuts. It looked like it was going to be a battle all day. At one point, Niko, at your. Virea had a one shot lead after he birdie the 10th.

And then Shane Lowry sees the chip in on nine, Eagles 10. The putter got extremely hot. Bertie 12. All of a sudden took a three shot lead. 14's a very difficult hole. He hit a bomb of a T shot. Hit a solid wedge in there 20 feet, did what he needed to do. And then I was just like, if he finds land on 15,

and by the way, if you would have said, okay, where would you like this ball to end up considering you have a three shot lead? He would have said 30 feet left of it, dead pin high. That's exactly where you hit it. Like it was a beautiful shot. I said, this guy's in full control. And then he gets the 16T. And that was a golf swing that I am very unfamiliar with when it comes to Shane Lowry.

I mean, he was way out in front. Club was so far stuck behind him. I mean, there's 25 yards between the right edge of the fairway and the water. And it flew into the water. Like you said, two balls all week in the water there. It's really not in play, especially with that wind direction. Just a weird swing. And, I mean, he said it afterwards.

He let one golf swing change everything. I mean, he was bogey-free on the weekend, full control, and then, what was he, six or seven under par on the day? And he goes there and he hits that ball in the water, and it's like, everything changed right there. He's like, oh, my God, what am I doing out here? I have no idea where the golf ball is going to go. Yeah, I mean, really didn't make a good swing after that. The iron shot from the fair was bad. The iron shot on 17 was one of his worst.

T-shot on 18 was good. If you would have said, hey, Shane, or anybody, name it, anyone in the field, they're going to have a three-shot lead. They're going to cough it up on the bear trap. I'd be like, I can see that. That does happen. But I would have been willing to bet. It was 15 and 17 were playing the issue. 17 still did play the issue.

It wasn't going to be 16 where like the thing fell. When he pulled 15 off, I said he's got one more shot. You got one more shot. He's got a hit. Because I mean, 16, after making par on 15, you could bail left as far as you want. You make bogey there all day. You still got two-shot lead at that point. I guess Nico, it did make birdie on 17, which, by the way, there's another one.

He took that pin on. That was about four inches. If that lands on the side slope of the fringe, that bounces into the water for sure. And then he makes the puck. With Shane Lowry on the tee. He's a crazy creature in that like anytime he's got a chance, he's really good. He doesn't give himself a million chances, but when he's up there in the lead, close to the lead,

like he plays good. And then he might just vanish for a little bit. But he's, I mean, three wins now for the guy. And look, I know it wasn't the strongest field in the world, but you did have a major champion and a rider cuper leading the way. and Shane Lowry. When he won over in Japan, he battled Justin Thomas. I mean, he's not scared of the moment.

He puts it so good. If he can just keep it on the planet, he can be a factor. But it's a third win. It's very impressive. But man, what just a wild finish. You feel for Shane Lowry is it. Props to him for doing media. He didn't have to do that.

He went straight in there. Face the music, did it. Talked about how he wanted to win in front of his four-year-old daughter so bad. She was out there. I just wanted to see her little ginger heads come running out there. But I give him a lot of credit for doing that because this is a guy at the Masters last year when he played bad on Saturday, had the tough finish. He got upset at the media. He said, look, I'm not here to talk about Roy McElroy.

I just cost myself a chance to win the Masters. I'm going to leave before I say something stupid. And by the way, no one blamed him. You get that. And then the situation with Colin Morikawa at Bay Hill last year, like he easily could have said, you know what? I'm out of here. I just puked off this golf tournament. I'm pissed off.

I haven't won an individual tournament since the Open in 2019. I've had chances. He's now one for five with E. either the lead or the share of the 54-hole lead. So closing has been an issue. But man, I was just, I was in shock. And as a man who had him in a one-and-done pool, it stung a little extra.

That was a tough one to swallow. For a guy, too, that, like, I mean, he made the winning putt at the Riter Cup. Like, the most pressure you could possibly have. But you go back, you mentioned a couple of them. You can go back earlier this year in Dubai. He had a chance. Coff that up.

18th, 18th hole knife to bunker shot into the water and talked about how he gave that one up, too. Like, he's won a lot. He's performed great under pressure historically, but we're kind of approaching a time where, like, it's happened enough times in a row now where maybe we're getting a little, like the scar tissue is building for sure. But if a guy like that could say,

I lost control of the club face, the last three holes after that one golf, like it can, like no one's immune to it. It just looks easy when we see Scotty do it over and over. Orori sometimes cruises in. Like, some of these guys make it look easier than it is.

It ain't like that. Yeah, for all you folks sitting in your men's grill back of your local club and you're like, how do you hit that shot? Your body's never felt like that. And you get him out there in the horse race at the member member of a bag. That's how they hit that shot.

When you miss that two-footer to advance. But now, I mean, with Shane, and I know he's a major champion, so it's a little different, but like this is kind of getting up there with like Tommy Fleetwood. Like, when are you going to do it? When are you going to close?

And now every single time he's in contention on Saturday, he's going to have to face that. And it's going to suck. Until he crosses the finish line, those are the questions that are going to be asked, man. I feel for him. I love Shane Lowry.

I was just shocked by that finish. I was like, this guy is cruising right now. This is going to be a dirt nap. Yeah. He's going to par 16. He's probably going to hit 40 feet left of all on 17, and then just cruise up 18. Family there, everything's going to be all good.

Good God, things changing a hurry in this game. Yep, it can happen. Bear Trap for all the bitching we did about how easy they made the place. It could still, you still got to hit T shots. T shots didn't get easier. And, yeah, that one's going to stay. He's been not just in total, but like just at PJ National. It was a few years back where it was looking good,

and then that weather came in right when he was on 18 and, like, rain, you couldn't get home, cost him that one too. That was 2022, and that's, I mean, he, that got brought up, and he's like, look, I played good that day. I just got beat, which, which happens. This one, totally different story. But I still will stand by the statement that the bear trap has gotten soft. A fewest amount of balls ever in the water at the bear trial,

I believe was 70 this year. Two balls in the water on 17 on Sunday. I don't know if they count Jimmy Stangers that went right of the water, but he did have to drop some guess, and he did. That was 166 yards, by the way, it was 50 yards right of the hole.

At least. I thought he was going to, like, somebody's got a canoe. Get his ass over there, let him hit that thing. But, man, it's... Cost himself some money. He played it five over, by the way,

the bear trap, cost himself some cash, Ola. That's a stanger. That is a... Ah, I see what you did. I like that. Oh, before we move on,

got to give a shout out, Alster Docherty. Yeah. On the Corn Ferry tour, man. his story is kind of well documented, running out of money, the car accident, a couple years back, 26 on the points list on the corned ferry tour, and missed his shot by a, excuse me, missed his card by a shot at Q school, that same year, like one out and both, has had some heartbreak, just got it done in Argentina, driving the final hole and then getting it.

3.54. Kicking it in from 30 feet and two, which was not easy. I had himself a little four-footer coming home and gets in the open championship. So cool story for him, man. And that's a relatable, you know, most guys that play golf kind of go through that type of stuff. And it's easy to find an excuse to shut it down and he didn't do it. And now he's second on the points list looking good. Yeah, he moves up to number two.

As you said, you just said second. I wasn't listening. Correct. Second is number two. You got it. Nailed it. Who does number two work for? This is the high end breakdowns that we're known for.

Also, shout out Brooks Kepka, top 10. How about it? Which you won in your gambling segment. I should have him top 20. A little fond around 65, which includes. included a three putt for par on the last to finish tied for ninth. But he's trending, man. It's getting better.

The putter was the big issue the first couple of weeks. Totally different greens now. We're on to Bermuda, off the Poana. And he was 15th in strokes game putting. Other than Thursday, he played really nice, 66, 69, 65 to close. Yeah, he played. I watched a good bit of him Saturday and Sunday. It looked, I mean, it could have been better.

As good as he putt it, like, I thought his iron play was awesome. He had a lot of good shots, a lot of shots of pin high. I think he's just kind of not, you know, getting a little more and more comfortable. He's got to, he'll have a number of starts now before Augusta. I think you'll see him work his way into contention in one of these leading up to April. Yeah. That Houston one looks rather nice, which he might have a little say in the design around there. It's helpful.

That is helpful. Big time golf headed this week, not only Bay Hill, but the Whisper Rock member member. Are you and your partner ready? Kenny Lobovic, my boy. Sweet, shout out. Kenny Lobovic. I played with Jose Le, Biasair, and Pooge this week. They had just seen him swing the golf club, apparently, like for the first time.

Like, oh, my God, I've never seen footwork like that in my whole life. This is the craziest thing ever. That was your Spanish accent? That was it. Your Australian ones better. How do you think it was? Yeah, I haven't really worked on my Spain just yet. He did tell me a few days ago he hadn't broken 87 in a good while.

By the way, last year we played was like a three handicap. He's like, my handicap's not where it should be. But then I did see him out there the other day, and he said, I'm back. So he's back. He's back. So we'll see. More importantly, though, Thursday night gin tournament, first annual pre-memorial, Mike Young pre-memorial gin tournament, which I had nothing to do with the name.

Mikey, we love you, dude. You got a lot of years left. This is pre-pre-premorial. Well, I'll tell you this, my partner, Chris Deeman and I, looking for the three-peat. Oh, is that right? You don't win the whole thing last year? The whole thing two years ago. Last year, remember, got shortened because of some weather issues.

And so there was like a four-way tie. So technically, I'm not lost in two years. You didn't lose. I still have a video of you the year after you guys won. It's great. I might have to release it to the public. Great wedge shot. I hit it in the shooting.

You're happy and hydrated, well hydrated. By the way, during the member, remember, I'm going to be smashing my Callaway Quantum driver. I've never been longer. What else is new? I have never been longer. I'm hitting this thing so much further than the old one. It's their fastest driver they've ever had. The Calloway Quantum's new TriForce face features ultra-thin, high-strength titanium, reinforced with polymesh,

and carbon making quantum our fastest, longest, and most exciting driver. Get ready for a quantum leap in distance. Experience the all-new Calaway Quantum Drivers with Triforce at CallawayGolf.com. I'm telling you, it's changed my game. Go get yourself one. It's fantastic. You'll be hitting second. You'll be hitting seconds, Lee.

I'm not accustomed to hitting second. I'm used to... Sorry, I mean, you'll be hitting first. That's what I figured. These ones and twos are throwing off a little bit. It's Monday. I'm very accustomed to hitting first after this past week. It is not a problem.

Yeah, let's get to that. before we get to our gambling segment, which I'm not very good at, you did win this week. But you made one of the worst best I've ever heard about, ever. In hindsight, and at the time, ill-advised. So I'll just break it down for the people at home real quick.

You and your partner, Drew Kittleson, four-ball partner, which is a very formidable duo, two great players. You decided to play David Pooge and Jose Le by a stare straight up. I'm going to go race you same boat. It sounds, it's as crazy as it sounds. We're on the range. We're talking, talking shit.

everybody's having a good time. And so Pooge was like, what's the game today? Like, y'all two versus us, you know, get ready, get ready for the four. But no, I think I'm, I got to go home and work on my Spanish accent before I bring it back out. I was like, yeah, dude, we'll do that. We figured it out, like shots, odds, whatever. We had to explain odds to them. I was like, all right, four to one odds.

And he's like, what is that? And I was like, all right, so if we have a $200, 18 old bat, if y'all beat us, you get $800. And he's like, no, no, it's too much. You'll get $800. Yeah, we get $800. Yeah. And so, let's bury the details. We worked it down to two to one odds.

Jesus. A hundred hundred, two hundred dollar bet. We got our shit kicked on the front pretty good. Shockingly, they played very good. We lost two holes where we both made birdie to an eagle that doesn't help. Then the backside, we played really good. We had an actual war on the backside. So we played press whenever you want.

We went 10. They press. Then we tie a couple. Then we went again. Or then they win. We press. Anyways, it came down to the 18th. Cole. We had two birdies, kick in birdies, me and Kitty, Jose Le. And all the bet, there's like

four bats, you know, we were going to win at that point if we even tied the hole. And Jose Lay, hoop for Eagle. Oops. For the Beagle to flip all of it. We ended up not, we ended up losing five ways. But if it 18 goes the right way, it could have been close. But in hindsight, horrible bet, good training. I was hitting first every single time. Yeah. And by substantial margins to the point where I was like, this is. We're getting a little absurd here with the distances. I mean, dude, they're hitting it. I mean, they're 50 in front of me.

So I'll tell you this. I had it okay. We joke around about it short. I have gotten quite a bit longer. I'm moving it out there pretty good. I played with Pooge twice last week, but on Thursday, the first hole, I don't think I could hit it a yard further. I smashed it.

You know the first hole at Westbrook's 460 yards. I had 150 in. Okay? I lasered him. He was 52 yards ahead. of me. I was like, this is bullshit. Yeah. Imagine if you had a quantum.

Oh my, could you even imagine? We played also every T-Box like all the way, you know, the ones that we don't always play all the all the way back. And like the ones where I would hit it really, I was like, okay, now we'll see. That'll be a good representation where I'm like some of them were in like shouting distant, you know what I mean? There were a few or it wasn't too bad if they missed one or something. And then there'd be the ones where they got every bit of it.

And if I didn't, I was like, oh, this is going to be, this is going to be 49 yards. Minimum. I mean, dude, there's. It's and they and poge man. His game is so good. He's going to start winning on live here real soon. He's the third. Or DP World Tour or both.

Yeah, he's the third betting favorite over in Hong Kong this week. I'm betting. He's up to 86 in the world. He absolutely, I'm betting. I don't even know if we talked about it, but several weeks ago he got absolutely screwed over in Dubai. He was in the last group on the DP World Tour and they zoomed in.

The, the TV referees zoomed in and he barely scraed. the sand on his way back. It led to a two-shot penalty. It cost him $370,000, I believe. It also went from third to seventh, which cost him a ton of world ranking points. As he told me, he thinks it cost him

two major championships, being in the open. And the PGA, I was like, dude, you still got time. You're going to be fine. You're going to move up. But that was a stinger. The kid can play, man. It's... Whispark is like a par 65 for him.

It's a different animal watching him go. I mean, if he wins on Live right now, he's top 50, right? Points wise. As it stands right now, he could do it and get in Augusta if he picks one off. Granted, I haven't done very well with my ones and twos so far today. Right. But the other day, I did the math, and I'm 99% sure I got this right.

If he were to win this week, I believe he would move to 48th in the world. 48th to 49th. 99%. It's only too short of being all the way, sure. But, Pooge, we're rooting for you, man. We want to see you in the majors. He's good. As is Hoseley, bad bet on our part.

Yeah. All right, let's get some good bets this week. You're coming off at W with a little Brooks Kepka top 20 that hit last week. We're on to the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Brutal golf course. I mean, this one's fun. All the bishing we do about too easy. This is the week we get right.

I looked at the weather, mid-80s all week long. No rain. I did not check the wind. I was driving. Shouldn't have been doing that anyway. It's dangerous. I was preparing for my gambling. Dangerous.

And I was cramming. I had to find a loser on the way down. So I'm going with a guy that plays hard golf courses extremely well. There was a time here where I think there was a two-year period where only one person at Memorial and Bay Hill broke 70 on a Sunday. And it was this guy right here. And that's Matt Fitzpatrick. Top 10 plus 250. Come on.

U.S. Open Champine. Yes. Also hard golf course. All right. I'm going to go. I'm staying in the top 20 area. I've got to try to piece a few of these together. Thanks to Brooks for getting me off the Schneid.

This man was top 10 last year. Came close at Pebble this year already. T2. a little time off, but he's such a straight driver of the golf ball and just a great iron. Just very solid. Nothing flashy about him. Love his golf swing. Give me SEPstraka, top 20, and that's

plus 185. He's further a good bit further down the betting board than I would have thought. If it gets windy and you got, like you always have to hit fairways out there, but I mean, he drives it so straight. I like that. He's like six or seventh last year. I mean, he's around 175 ball speed. He slimmed down a little bit.

Big Diet Coke guy. Asked him if he He cut back his diet Coke. He goes, I cut back, but I would never give up the love of my life. No, dude, you got to have a reason to live. You know, you've got to be happy. Hard not to root for SEP Stracham, man. But it's going to be a fun week. Obviously, Scotty Sheffler, your betting favorite.

I like him to have a good week. This is a place. But this should be a battle, man. This should be fun. All the best in the world going right now. I'm excited for this one. This is one of my favorite non-majors to watch them because it is so hard. Yeah.

It's fun to watch them struggle. When that place gets baked out and firm, it's real fun. All right. Well, let's get to our guest this week. He is a golf junkie. He's also a hell of a baseball player. He's the DH for the Oakland A's. He's been out here for spring training.

This was a fun one, man. Get to know Brent Rooker on Subpar. All right, we got a ball player in studio with us today, down in Scottsdale for a little spring training with the Oakland A's. He's a two-time All-Star Silver Slugger Award winner, a certified golf sicko. And according to Jen 5.7 index, I checked it out before. Nice. That's updated as at this.

right, because I posted a 75 yesterday. That index went down a little bit since yesterday. So that's updated. Yeah, I appreciate that. I heard 75, but you might have lost by 8. I got crushed. I got. Who you played against?

Jeff McNeil, our second baseman. So we've landed on eight strokes as the number that I need to compete with him. He beat me 2 and 1. He shot 68. I shot 75. So 8's kind of the number for us to be competitive, though, for now. Damn. So he's like a plus two-ish. He, I think he's on Jen a plus two. I think that's a little sandbaggy. I think, uh, I don't know. I don't know if I don't know if we're posting all the rounds

there for him to be a plus two, but he's a good player. We'll get you have Strickler to invest in. Yeah. We figured that's out. Where'd y'all? Where'd y'all played on here? We played at Ganey Oh yeah. Nice. Good spot. So 75 is that like is that that's pretty good. I was very pleased in 75. Yeah. What's low ever? Uh, 73, one over. I've never shop even, never gone under. But I was, and I was, and I was like I was three under through five yesterday. Oh. So I got nervous early. And then we finished.

We went 34 on the front eye and went two under. And then just the six handicap in me came out and I shot 41 in the back and we landed at 75. Damn. I was pleased with it. It's so weird. It's like trying to break 80 for the first time. I break 70 for the first time. I was just like you got to blow it 100 times before you actually do it.

Yeah. And I felt really good about where I was. And then just some some, a couple bad three puts, you know, just stupid mistakes. and it slips away quickly and you get back to one over and you're not going to find a way to make two more birdies and I don't know where those are

so. But that 300 through five you're like uncomfortable like you said. I don't like this. I don't like this. There's no way it's getting to four. There's just no chance it's getting to four

before it goes to minus two or minus one. Exactly. Do you hit bombs like all? Not really. Honestly. I mean, I'm a good one's out there two 90ish probably.

I'm not like crazy long with some guy. You look like you hit it really short. Yeah. I tapped on the shoulder, and I was like, Jesus. I've got mixed reports about your length off the T. I know who it's from. I haven't. I have newfound distance.

I was told your baseball swing speed does not translate to the cup. That might be coming from Max because I had that discussion with Max in the on-dex circle in Detroit. But then you're just strange, by the way. But then your man, Chris Vernon told me I played a whole other day that was like 465 and you had like 65 yards in. That's not sure. That's helped me out a lot. Yeah. That's strange though because like even pitchers who don't even like bat really.

I feel like all baseball players just too. Is it because you like are trying to hit it straight and you don't really let go? No, I think it's just because my swing stinks. So I think it's like, you hit it so hard with a baseball bat, which has got to be way harder. Yeah. I mean, if I had the answer, you know, I would probably hit it further. But I mean, I'm not like short by any means. I'm not hitting out there at 340 or anything.

Well, spring training is just getting going. Yeah, what, a week and a half in. We were about a week and a half in. We've played four games, I guess. I've played two, so we're just kind of getting rolling here. How many will you play in spring training? The goal normally is like between 45 and 50 at bats, so whatever that looks like. So we play.

Holy shit. How many games is, how many games is. I think there's like 30 games. So that's probably 18 or 19 games, probably to get those 45 to 50 at bats somewhere around there. And that's just because you're you now and you're like, I'm not playing every single game. Well, I mean, what's your like? once you're established and you kind of know your role and you know what you need and you know your routine

and kind of what you need to be prepared for the season, it kind of dictates itself a little bit better. Obviously, guys who are like, if there's a few open roster spots and there's three or four guys competing for that specific spot, they're going to play a little bit more just to get the reps and get the evaluation. But once you're kind of set and established

and you know what you're doing, it's just kind of all about getting prepared for the season. And you talked to like NFL veterans, and they're like, God, camp just sucks. Like if I could just skip camp, I'd play forever. Are you at that point with spring training yet? No, not yet. It's still fun.

I mean, the first few weeks is always fun because you're back with the guys. You're hanging out again. You know, the Glock room, camaraderie's back. We're playing a lot of golf, which is great. Obviously, we're a little bit, our camps were probably a little bit less demanding than the NFL guys camps. So it's towards the end of spring training, like the last week or two, it doesn't get to be a grime, but it gets to be like, I think we're ready to go here. Let's get out and start playing some games. But it's the first few weeks, especially your fun.

What's like a standard day at camp? So we'll go. I mean, get to the park. I would say on average, like 7.30. Do your stuff. I like to lift beforehand. So if you want to do a workout, do your workout before, all your training room stuff to get ready,

we'll do like a workout, some form of a workout in terms of like on-field stuff from 930 to 11-30-ish and then games are at 1. So if you're not playing that day, you kind of tailor it. And you can cater to do a little bit more extra work if you want to. If you are playing that day, it's kind of get ready for the game. Like it would be on a normal, a normal game day. Do you stay for the game

even if you're not playing? Road games. You do not have to go if you're not playing. Our rule, it varies team to team. Our rule, Cots's rule is home games.

Everybody stays for five innings and then veteran guys and pitchers who aren't throwing can take off. And go make that tea time. Go get the tea time. Yeah. What's the golf?

Are you daily right now? I've played five times since being out here. So not daily. Every other day so far probably. which, I mean, I hope to keep that pace up. Obviously, I'm by myself right now. My wife and kids come out sporadically in spring training.

So when they're here, no golf, unfortunately. But when they're not here, I try to take advantage of whatever afternoons I can, for sure. I want to go back to the early days, though, because I feel like the minor league stories are the best. You're drafted in 2017, 35th overall by Minnesota. Spent a couple years in the minors. Got any good stories? In terms of what? What kind of stories?

I mean, obviously, like, I mean, you're riding. But when do you guys ride buses for like eight hours ago? Yeah, but yeah. That's... You played in the Cape Cod? I played in the Cape Cod. I played in the Cape in college. Worst bus ride.

I kind of got lucky with my minor league bus rides because I went... I got drafted. I went to rookie ball for like two weeks and then went from there to the Florida State League where the travel is not bad at all because you're just kind of bouncing around to Florida Spring Training complexes. That was easy. Southern League for AA, which was... I mean, I guess there was some...

We were in Chattanooga, so there was down to Jacksonville's kind of a hall. Mobile was kind of a hall. was kind of a hall. Talking about covering playoff events in St. Louis, Memphis, and Atlanta, it's kind of similar when you're playing in Mobile, Birmingham, and Jackson, Mississippi, in July and August. That's fine. Yeah. But those best fries were not the worst.

And then from there, I went to AAA. Once you get the AAA, the longer trips become flights. So I kind of lucked out in terms of that stuff. Our double A routine, though, there was a little muni course in Chattanooga to let us on for free. So basically me and one of my buddies on the team would basically have like a standing 630 tea time every morning and we'd get up, we'd go play, we'd go back and we'd play in two hours because we're just playing the two of us, go back to the apartment, go back to sleep for like three hours, get up, go to the field, get ready for the game that night. So that was kind of,

that was our standing double a routine. Yeah, you are. Yeah, you are certified. So on your Wikipedia page, actually, your pitcher is wearing an El Paso Chihuahua. Yeah, yeah. Jersey. How much time did you spend there? I spent from an opening day of 22, until the trade deadline of 22. So that would have been four-ish, April, May, June. Yeah, four-ish months in El Paso. My wife is from there.

Oh, yeah. It's something. It's hot. That's a different kind of hot, but it's hot. Chihuahuas. Yeah. Great stadium there. Yeah, it actually is.

Really good place to hit. I spent that year bouncing back and forth between tripling in the big leagues, mostly in El Paso until I got traded to Kansas City. But, yeah, El Paso, it's definitely, it's, I enjoyed my time there. It's a different living experience than I was used to, though. For sure. What are some of the great, like,

minor league baseball is the best, like, names, mass, like the Chihuahuas. Who else? They got the mud hens. Trash pandas are a new team. Trash pandas are in Huntsville. That's a good one. They're the trash.

Trash pandas is a good one. The mudhens is a good one. Hartford yard goats. Yard goats is a good one. They're always like a descriptive word before. Yeah. I was a little blasted one night in Hartford up at the tournament.

Now. on my birthday and I gave this dude 200 bucks for his Hartford Yard G-G-Rose hat. Probably could have got one next day for like, whatever. There's the, I mean, Jacksonville, I think Jacksonville's still the jumbo for him. But yeah, you're right,

there is always so there's always a descriptive word in there. Which makes it way better. It adds a little bit more character. Yeah. But what was that the trangas? Trash pandas is all. Trash panas. A lot of pandas run around Huntsville,

Alabama? But it's, I think it's the raccoon, slang for raccoon. A trash panda. Oh. Yeah. And there are raccoons in Huntsville. I want a trash.

Panda. Yeah, there's a lot of those. That's for, all right. That's good. If you got a trash Panned hat, anybody out there, send me one. I'd like, we can find one. There's some good minor league hats. Our Chattanooga Lookouts hat, I think is one of the best. It just has like the two eyes. Yeah, I think it's a good hat. I think people wear that. There's some cool. Yeah, cool minor league logos out there. Before we get back to Brent Rooker, a quick note from Mitsubishi, let me save you some time. If you bought your driver off the rack, you're guessing. And guessing at 110 miles an hour doesn't usually end well. I've played everything, different heads, different lofts, different settings. What I learned is simple. The shaft controls how the face

shows up. When I got fit into Diamana, not only did I gain yards, I gained control. The ball started where I aimed more often. My misses stopped being mysteries and cash games got fun again. That's why so many good players end up in Diamana. If you haven't been fit, you're guessing. If you've hit Diamana, you already know. The difference is control under pressure. It's seeing your start line hold, It's trusting that your swing will produce the same window every time, and that's what happens when performance matches your move. Go to love your drivermore.com and find the right diomana for you. Then go argue with your wedges instead.

Now, back to Brent Rooker. Tell me about the time you get called up, the first time you get called up. So I got called up in 2020, which was the COVID year. I was at the alternate site, which was in St. Paul, like 25 minutes from our stadium in Minneapolis. I was playing call duty at the time. Well, it happened. So this was on an off day for our major league team. The day before our starting right fielder,

like first or second inning, pulls his hamstring, comes out of the game. So I'm just like, all right, I am the next in line here, but I don't know what's happening. And there's an off day the following day.

So I just basically had to sit in anxiety for like 36 hours wondering, like, is he actually hurt? How hurt is he? Am I the one going to get called up? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's like 10 o'clock on that off day probably. So at this point, I'm kind of figuring,

like, all right, if they were going to make the move, I would have made the move. They would have made the move already. He was probably fine. I'm playing Call of Duty with some friends. And I get a call from our farm director, I believe it was, letting me know that we had a doubleheader the next day. And I was going to be in the lineup for game one, which is like a one o'clock. So do your best to get some sleep.

I did not get any sleep that night and rolled into the double header next day, played both games. Got the first head of the way, first RBI out of the way. Kind of did all the, got a few of the first out of the way, at least pretty early on, which was nice, but the 2020 year was interesting because it made the debut experience very different, those of us who debuted that season than the guys who got the more traditional debuts. I just started watching this show called Clubhouse on Netflix. It follows the Red Sox in 2024.

And it's so, I mean, well, obviously it's sad when they cut guys, obviously. Right. Like this 31-year-old made his debut in the Bigs as a pitcher. His last name is Boozer actually. Yeah. But it was just so cool, like when they told him. It's an emotional moment. It's very cool, especially for guys that it happens later on in their career like that,

because it's just there's so much work that goes into it. It goes back to when you're 7, 8, 9 growing up playing baseball, all the sacrifices your parents made to get you to tournaments and get you in events and things like that. So it's just a culmination of a lot of things. And it's an emotional, emotional event for sure. What were the baseball rules during code? I can't remember it like it feels like ages ago. Like were there any fans?

No fans. Zero fans. No, they had their little cutout cardboard. Zero fans. Yep. So no fans in the stands. bench guys all had we all had to mask on there were like also little sections of the stands the bleachers for guys who i think like pitchers who weren't going to pitch or other bench guys could go sit in the stands so we're all further apart um obviously travel rules hotel rules were a little bit stricter and things like that but yeah it was uh it was zero fans so i got the initial debut um in september of 2020 was zero fans then the following year the first game i played that year was kind of like a re debut because they were actually people So it felt even a little bit differently than, or a little bit different than the first, the first game.

Yeah, what a weird time, man. It was so wild. Remember the cardboard cutouts they had when they were playing the NBA, like, finals in the bubble down there? You can buy your face to be there. Did it at the Phoenix Open, actually. Yeah, too. You could buy your own face. Yeah. That was on there.

Is there any, like, when you move up, you're a young kid, you come in, you're, now you're in the dugout locker room with like the bats. Is there any more like rookie initiation hazing? Are they all just, is it pretty chill? I mean, it's, it varies team to team. It varies veteran group to veteran group, I would say. It depends on who you get and how fortunate you are. There's some stuff that, I mean, without revealing too much of it.

There's some stuff that happens on, like, your first bus ride and things like that. Nothing crazy or out of line. But there's, I mean, yes, there's still some things that need to happen before you're. Yeah. Can't just walk. Excepted with open arms. Yeah. You can't just waltz on and not have to do anything.

I feel like the veterans call most of the guys rook. How does that work for you? That's just my built-in. I know. I just turn around every time. People always ask, like, is that, like, offensive to you when someone calls you that? I was like, I've been called that since I was like eight. So, like, no, it's just.

kind of been my nickname for every. That was what people called me in in baseball context before I ever like related it to being a rookie. So I just kind of goes in one day or not the other doesn't really doesn't register with me. Your team's moving to Vegas. Yep. 2028. 2028.

Going to play some games in 27, right? We're playing in Vegas. We're playing six games this year in Vegas. And I would assume six games also in 2027 in Vegas. I don't feel about that. I'm excited to get there. I think it's going to be great. Well, the six games this year and next year are in a.

our AAA park there and the ball flies there. So it's kind of like we need to get a homer or two while we're there during those two series the next two years. Once we get there in 28, stadium's going to be unbelievable, state of the art, inside. So we know so that the weather is a non-factor, which I know that's one thing people always talk about.

No income tax is fantastic. That's a crazy shift from, I mean, going from Oakland to leave. That's a huge race for everybody. Yeah, for everybody. So I think, once we get there in 28, I think it pretty quickly becomes like a top five place to play in the league in terms of being able to track free agents, the market there's going to be great. The stadium's unbelievable, great place to live.

Obviously, unlimited things to do, good food, things like that. You'll be a packed house every night. I mean, look at every other sport. It's just been such a huge success. You should get in very good with Monty Montgomery out at Shadow Creek. Yeah. Yeah, it's one that I need to. We can make it.

We can probably make that. We can probably make, and you'll have the greatest home field advantage. Because I feel like football, like it gets a guys are coming to Vegas when. Yeah. In football, they're there is so short. And I think I've heard some teams like try to even shorten it

when they go play in Vegas like less time. And I think teams trying to stay away from the strip too. Yeah, they try to get them off as much as you can. But baseball like y'all are there

for like multiple nights. It's going to be a mess. What's the worst that could happen? What's going to be? You guys know the best home record in the league by mile. There was a story. I don't remember what it was,

but like several years ago. Because the triple eight, there's been a triple eight team in Vegas for a very long time. And like visiting teams records when they're in Vegas is always terrible. Yeah. Of course.

It's going to be a huge range. We're going to have a fast on-field advantage. We're just humans. We can't control ourselves. Exactly. This is too much fun. Yeah, you're coming from Milwaukee or something. Come down and you're like, oh, my God.

This is amazing. Three nights. How about last year you played all 162 games? I did. I mean, do you look at these like NBA guys and this load manager? Be like, how soft are y'all? I don't. Because I don't have to play defense that much.

So, like, it's a little bit easier on me. Guys, like, like, Ellie de la Cruz goes out there and plays all 162 a shortstop. Pete plays all 162 at first. Matt Olson plays all 162 playing the field too. Those guys are the ones doing it. So, um, and our sports obviously a little bit, a little bit less less physically demanding. But I take way less. I did play 162. Most of them are as a DH so. So I take a little bit less credit than those guys who do it and go out there and play defense every day too. Just say the NBA players are soft. I'm not going to say that. How do you keep yourself like loose, entertain, whatever, when you're dh and you're just kind of waiting to get up and you're not in the field?

I do a lot of pacing. I'm like a four-year-old. I spend a lot of time on an iPad and I have my iPad. And I'm just an iPad kid between a bat's watching all my bats, watching all my teammates at bats, watching videos of whatever. I'm trying to pick up something here or there, trying to pick up a sequence of tip, things like that to help me out, help our guys out or whatever it is. And then I'm mostly just nervous pacing. It's a lot of nervous pacing. It's a lot of time to think, which for me can be very bad.

If I'm going bad, can be very good. if I'm going good. So it's just all about kind of learning to what thoughts I need to have to keep myself in a good frame of mind. It's crazy how much the games change. Like watching that clubhouse thing. Yeah. I mean, all the data, all the technology that goes into everything.

Now, like the pitchers, them breaking it down, biomechanics and everything, wild. Yeah, I mean, any information that you wants available to you. And there are guys who want all of it. There are guys who want none of it. I'm a guy who wants all live it plus some probably to a fault where I sometimes consume too much information, too much data, things like that. But yeah, whatever you want is there. And I think it's tremendous resources for guys looking to get better and looking to improve.

So when you're watching film on a picture of guy you're about to face or something, like, what are you looking for? Do you like, hey, tips off his curve this way? Or like, what are you breaking down? Yeah, if you can find that, that's obviously ideal. Most of it is just like, I want to see arm angle. I want to see where he's releasing it from. And then when I'm just watching Ed Bats from his previous whatever games, you're looking

for sequences. like he likes to go sinker in to set up to change up or likes to do this to do this or whatever it is. And anytime you can find like a little sequence here there, a little pattern, a little tendency, it can be pretty helpful if you go up there in like a similar situation. It's something you just watch. You just get some trash cans in the outfield. Yeah, just bang on those bitches. I mean, it makes it significantly easier code or whatever that's called.

Good call. That leads perfectly into this dumb baseball question. Okay. So it'd be good. You're a great hitter. I can't wait. I mean, everyone says hitting a baseball, and I wouldn't disagree. There's a hardest thing to do in sports, right?

And you got these pitchers that are all world and you have point one. I mean, I don't know how long you got from the time they release it until you got to be hitting it. How much of hitting is just guessing? Depends on who you ask. That is a good question. Can you actually track him like, oh, that's a curve? For me, a lot of it. Like, for me, a lot of it.

And like, it's, so I was at the All-Star game last year and I was talking to somebody. And Cal Raleigh, obviously, catcher, who is in my division, who I have a, ton of a bat's what he's catching comes up and just is like don't listen to him he guesses every pitch and i'm like yeah i kind of do and like cow knows that as he's back here and i'm hitting like he knows i'm looking for one specific pitch and one specific spot but i probably do that more than a lot of guys it depends on the style of hitter it depends on who you are depends on what you're good at it depends on a lot of different things so you're going to get a lot of different answers based on like i would i would assume if you ask louisa rise do you ever guess a pitch he's going to say i've never

guessed a pitch in my entire life. I have to guess I am guessing 75% of the time. I feel like you have to. What do you think Shohei does? Shohay exists in a different universe, so I don't think that's I don't think he can be asked. I mean like the game he had with an LCS where he pitched and just hit

four home runs or whatever like can you just put that into context or is that just that's a unicorn right there? Yeah, it's just it's got to be one of the more dominant like single game performances in any sport ever. It goes up with right up there with scoring 100 in an NBA game or whatever the best shots gained round in the PJ tour.

Whenever he goes, open by 15. Yeah, exactly like that, yeah. Will he go down as the best ever, you think? Yeah, I think so. You know, depending on injury. I think so. It's, I mean, yeah, it's sick.

You got to wonder, like, are we going to start, like, is there going to be another one? Like, I don't, like, it's been, is there going to be another two-way guy? There has to be at some point, right? Like, if we play for another hundred years, you would think at some point there's going to be another two-way guy. I just feel like, but maybe not.

Like, you know, what he's doing is so unique in the two different. skill sets and being so dominant at both of them is so unique that like we might never see it again. I don't know a ton about baseball, but I just feel like you train like your whole life to be like either great at pitching or graded at graded hitting. And like you go to college. I mean, there's very few that are dominant on both sides or over there. So I just don't feel like a lot of people even like focus on both sides. Yeah.

I mean, there's, I guess there's a few in college every year who do both at a high at like a successful level. but to do it at the major league level is even crazier. So, I mean, I don't, like I said, I assume at some point it happens again, maybe not the same dominance level, but. Yeah, that's why I don't like you being a great hitter. Like think of all the time you spend hitting, watching tip film, all that type of stuff. And then you got the pitchers, the catcher, they report early to can't. They're doing all the pitches.

It's like, how do you, I don't even know from a time, maybe he doesn't need to spend that much time. Maybe it's just that special that it just is like easy for him on both sides. Yeah, the preparation aspect of it's crazy too, because I know, I mean, I know how much time pitchers start to spend preparing for their starts, I know how much time it takes for hitters to prepare for at-bats and be able to do both while also staying, while being preparing physically as well as is crazy.

Have you faced him? Yes, I have two at-bats career. How we do? I have one for two with a homer. Oh, my God. 500. That makes you the best ever. I think, yeah, just two of bats.

I haven't faced them since he was in 23. One for two of the homer. I got a guy. I had a really cheap one over the right field wall on Anaheim. It wasn't hit very hard, but it got out. That's sick. You're 500. Yeah.

That's a whole world. Never faced them again. I don't know. I hit a home for that game. It was either one for two, one for three. I haven't faced them since, though. Is there a,

is there a pitcher that you face regularly that you just can't, like you hate facing like, fuck this guy, I got no chance. There's a lot. Yeah, who's like 1A or 1B? Logan Gilbert's 1A.

And he's in my division. We face him four times a year. And I haven't figured him out yet. Yeah. All right, Logan. I'm working. Take note.

I'm working. He knows it too. And it sucks, but you know what it is what it is. What about, like obviously the two that always get brought up scubel scoble and skeens but i mean skeens i've never faced paul i have very good career numbers off tariff really yeah i do i do love that i i don't know what i forget what they exactly are i've got three homers i've got some hits so i've got historically

done pretty well off tariff nice do you got any like buddy pitchers that like make you happiest when you get a hit off them or hit a bomb off them ooh uh what my really good friends pitches for Tampa. I think I'm Griffin, Jacks. I think I'm two for three against. I have a couple of hits with him. I like getting hits off him. He's really, really good.

But when you've been in the league, you get to kind of a certain point. You've been in the league for a few years. You kind of get to know most pitchers. And so there's always a little bit of a gratifying feeling when you get hit up anybody because they're all really good. They're all trying to take money from you and beat you. And so it's fun to.

And it's hard to hit a baseball. It's hard. Very much. Yeah. Have you ever charged the mound? I haven't. Are you wanting to? Not really.

Is there any scenario in the world that you could piss you off? I mean, some guy, that would be like a career thing. I don't think so. It's like when the bench is clear. I would be willing to go back my body up if he charged the mound. I don't think I will ever be the guy that goes first. Yeah, trying to be in the back. Like I was there for you, but I'm not really throwing or taking any.

Exactly. So the bench is clear. Like, I'd be the guy. I'd be like, oh, I'll be the last guy. Here we go. Fuck, I was right there for you. Where are you at in this situation? I think I would be, I'd be running out there pretty quick.

It depends on the situation. But I think I don't, like I said, I don't think I'll instigate. I'll just take my base and take the own base. There's not that many, I mean, I don't think they haven't super regularly even before. But how many times a season out of all majors? Is someone like charged? Will there be like a bench clearing? There's a few, very few that actually end up coming to anything.

I mean, everybody runs out and maybe someone pushes someone. There's like a big fight fight once every couple of years, I would think. You think about, I mean, the roofed at a door hose, or, yeah, the roofed at a door one. You think about the Tim Anderson and Jose Ramirez. Yeah, you think about, I always think about Tyler Austin slamming his bad than charging. I think it was Joe out there pitching. So, yeah, the one every few years. The greatest of all time is though when Robin Ventura.

There's no one. There's a good one. He just said, bring it. Come on, man. That's the best. He was a bad man. Nolan Ryan. Yeah.

Let's talk. Yeah, go ahead. I was going to say that the one with the Yankees and the Red Sox. Remember Pedro Martinez? That was like a scary actually. By the way, props to Zimmer for going out there and be like, I'm going out there. I'm going to go. I'm going to.

You can't take the dog out of the pipe. That was kind of at the peak of that rivalry too back in like, I guess it had been like 2004 probably. So, yeah, that was a heatable. Yeah, that was like, that's one, one of the only ones I can remember. I actually didn't know how common they were anymore. I love that. Let's talk a little more golf here, obviously. Yeah.

Sicko. How much do you watch golf? A lot. I watch a good bit, yeah. Who's your guys that you follow and root for? Um, I love Rory. I like when Rory wins. I like watching Max play.

Cameron Young is my favorite guy to watch. I like his swing a lot. Yeah. Because when I do, like, my. exaggerated rehearsal, that's what I feel like I look like. It's not at all when I watched him a video, but in my head, like, that's the pause and like, that's what I feel like I look like. So I like watching him swing because for some reason it's like relatable in my head. They're like, I can, like, I can do that. I can't. But again, I think I can.

A lot of people are picking him to win a major this year. I mean, his talent's sick. It's crazy. Especially since he got the first win out of the way. Yeah. I think that's, I think it's a good pick. Obviously watching, I, in any sport, I am not ashamed to say, like, I am attracted to, like, greatness. I am a front runner. Like, I was, Alabama football when they're winning everything. Like, I like that. Like, when the Warriors are winning everything, I like that. So I love watching Scotty.

Like, I like watching dominance. I like watching elite level. Like, I'm better than everyone here and it's not really close. Like, I love that. So I like watching Scotty a lot, too. I saw you put up a thing on Twitter. It was like, who's more, I think it was like, who's more dominant in their sport or who's but like show hey or scotty yeah and it was close wasn't it was close it was a great question by

the poll was closer than i thought given who my audience obviously is it's way more baseball huge so i think show hey got more votes but even with my audience being what it was like it was much closer than i thought it would be i thought and the more i thought about it the more i was like i don't really i can make an argument for both here yeah i saw it today and i was like it's got to be show hey and then i kind of started breaking down like the explanation as to why i'm like well shit you could say a lot of the same things about scotty over here like he ain't the best ever yet but he's Kind of on track. He's being compared to what he's doing.

The argument, like, only a couple guys have ever done. There's people who argue and say, like, Shohey's not the best player in the big leagues. Like, they'll argue that Aaron's better. I mean, I think statistically Aaron's better hitter. I think Showe is the best player. So, but the point being, there are people who will argue that there is a better player than Showhay.

There's nobody arguing there's a better golfer than Scotty. So that would be a point for Scotty. It just never has a bad game. Yeah, right. The floor is just crazy high. Yeah, I mean, he's played horrible, the first three first rounds. Yeah. And he's still, I mean, he finished 12th this week.

Right. It's like it's bad as a flash in the pan. It's as bad as it gets. How do you handle social media? Because, I mean, you're pretty active on Twitter, which I love. Yeah, I get way less active in season just because it becomes not worth it. So I like being approachable, I guess you could say. I like talking about things in the off season, especially to the playoffs when I can kind of tweet about baseball things.

And kind of give insights into what's happening in the game. that I have that maybe a fan wouldn't have. And then once we get into the season, I tend to shut it down a little bit more, just kind of out of necessity. I mean, people are always going to be rude. People are very rude. Yes, very, very rude.

So, I mean, I've gotten in trouble over the years and just told to, like, stop and all this. Do you respond to the haters, or do you just, is it immediate, like, block button? It depends on what the hate is about. I respond, I mean, in the off season, I'll respond, like, in some good-hearted, funny ways. in the season, no, I'm not responding to anything.

I'm just letting go. He had the one where some dude, like, DM, then was like, yo, you cost me 21K and on fantasy or whatever. And he writes back, what was it? Like, I cannot. I don't care. I've got to the point if you, like, communicate. If you interact with me on social media about gambling anyway,

it's block, a media block. Like, I'm not doing it. Done block. See, during the daytime, when I haven't had any cocktails or thing, it's just immediate block. And at night, I'm like, I hate this person. I'm going to respond. Yeah.

Yeah. It's Mr. Anonymous egg-shaped head guy. Yeah. All right. Favorite course you've played and the course you want to play the most? Favorite course I've ever played is Lookout Mountain Country Club in Chattanooga. I love that course. I've played it probably four or five times.

It's my favorite. I think the one that I want to play, I want to play Sleepy Hollow in New York. I see pictures of it. Links, jims on Instagram posts all kind of pictures of it. And the one specific part three with like the thumbprint, I want to play that whole. really bad. Looks really fun. Well, yeah. Get in touch with Cam Young. I mean, he's got a little connection there. Yeah. Do you play, do you get to play during season on the road? Yeah, that's the most of our

in-season rounds are off days on the road. How long does that take to work your way into being able to do? Like, can a rookie come in and be like, yeah, I'll join you guys. There's like, nah, nah, son. Depends on team. It depends on who wants to play. But yeah, if we have a big group, like we have like eight or nine guys want to plan an off day on the road, we'll go to whatever public horses nearby, just because obviously it's easier to get like two or or three T times there and we'll go out and have a have a fun day. And if there's more, if it's two or three of us I want to go, we'll kind of look around and see what connections we have in that city and where we can get out.

But we have lost a few golfers in the past year through trades and things. So I think our golf group this year may be a little smaller that it has been. But that's, yeah, like I said, most of our off days at home, we're kind of spent those are like family time because you got your kids there and you hang out with them. Off days on the road is where we try where we try to take advantage of and get out and play where we can. Are you a gambler on the golf course? I will play whatever everybody else wants to play.

I am not the one that's like, we got to play. If we don't play a game, I'm fine. I'm good to just play my ball, keep my score, compete with myself. But if everybody else wants to play something, I'm not going to say no. Are you like a technician? You break down your baseball swing.

Are you doing the same thing? Yeah, unfortunately. Like most guys honestly that I've known like that. The pitchers and the quarterbacks are very much like that. I don't know a ton of like. I, so in my baseball swing, like, I have to know everything that's happening, why it's happening, why I'm doing this. Like, I, again, sometimes to a fault, but I am very much mechanically driven. I need to know why.

I need to know what movement pattern is leading to this, so on, so on. So my golf game is the same. So you're a lesson taker or YouTube watcher. I am a lesson taker. Or both. Yeah, I'm a lesson taker. I like that. Yeah, I do like that.

This is an important question. I meant to ask you this earlier because you're like, you were known as the big breakfast guy. Yeah, you love all the breakfast. What do you got in Scottsdale? What have you discovered? I need to hear the hot spots. It's like at, it's like Sacramento. Like, where I'm at home, I eat all my breakfasts at home, like at the house because I wake up,

my kids are there. And then here, it's like I go straight to the field and eat all the breakfasts to the field every day. So I don't get to go out. So you haven't got to explore. I haven't. Yeah. It's always like road cities where I have recommendations because those are when you

wake up at nine, you don't have the bus till two. Like you got, that's when you have the time to go do stuff. All right. You could have one restaurant that you've come across. else on the road, be your breakfast every day. Which one would it be? Toast in Birmingham, Michigan. Birmingham, Michigan.

That's where we stay for Detroit. That's a total right there. That's where we stay for Detroit. It's like 30 minutes from Detroit. Oh, yeah. We're staying there for the rocket this year. Yeah. Yeah.

Right there. You say in Birmingham's toast. Yeah. Check it out. Boom. Bacon fried rice and a banana cold brew. A banana cold. Banana cold brew.

That's toast. I'll remember that. Yeah. That's great. We actually, we used to stay in downtown right by the stadium there and walk over to to the games. Yeah. Cool little downtown area, considering you can walk to every stadium.

But Birmingham is very nice. Birmingham's great. Love Birmingham. And not far from Oakland Hills. Yeah. We got to play with the rocket. It's at what Detroit Golf? Yeah, we played it a couple years ago.

We got to play it the Monday after like tournament finish on Sunday. We played it that Monday. That's a fun little spot. Yeah, they just ripped it up. Redid it. Oh, really? So we're going to have a new golf course this year for it. Fun course like for normal, like the tour guys just shrink it so much.

Yeah. It's a sweet old school fun golf. That'd be a fun place to play like day and day out. Yeah. All right. Let's get to the E9 here. Yeah, we got some. I'm going to let you pick the first questions,

please. Okay. What is this? What's happening? So we have a little E9, fun nine questions. We always, we have a rotation of questions we ask

because the first one to everyone. I'll throw this out just because there's been a movie made about the Oakland A's and Moneyball. Let's say they do a remake of Moneyball. Current day, you're in it. Wow. What actor? I hate this question.

Do you want a different one? Yeah, I want a different one. I don't know what that question. Think on that for a while. Okay. All right, all right. Let's go with childhood crush.

first like, you know, TV star. I feel like it was Britney Spears. Yeah. She's, you, things have changed. Yeah. That ship may not have sailed yet. She may be available. I saw an Instagram post from her today.

And I'm like, dude, what is going on? My wife showed me when I was like, I don't know where we're at here. I don't know if there's any coming back. Like 2000, 2001 and 2002 would have been that time. Yeah. That timeline. That's the right answer for your age. Yeah.

Yeah. All right. Next one here. Did you really get confused? for three of your teammates' dad when you went to a Sacramento Kings game. I did not. I did not. I can understand how that would happen because all of my team.

Most of my teammates are children, but no, I didn't. They said it was mostly because how you were dressed first with how they were dressed. Yeah, that's true. There is a generational gap for sure and a lot of things between me and the younger, the younger statesman on our team. I heard you are like the, you're the dad, though, of the team. For sure. Yeah, for sure.

You keep all the young kids in line. I keep them all in line. You're not that. How old would he 31? 31? I mean, damn, there ain't that. Mature 31. You're like the Jake, what is it, Jake Taylor from Major League?

Yeah, exactly. That's you? Yeah. Every team needs that. All right, let's see which one here. Just give me strangest thing you've ever heard of or that you've done yourself trying to break out of a slump. I mean, there's a lot of like what you're wearing under your uniform stories out there.

I've never done that, but there's some women's underwear that goes around from I've been told. that gets worn under pants to try to. When you need to break out? Try to break out. I had a Marling teammate who would be playing poorly. He would go nothing under his uniform. He would just go just jersey, just pants, just cleats. Bold.

No socks. You needy's y'all had a couple years ago. No socks, no undershirt, no sliders, nothing. Just jersey, pants, cleats. Just balls. Yeah. Yeah. That's bold.

Okay, I didn't have this one. You mentioned Jake Taylor. So favorite baseball movie of all time. A league of, no, I don't think they're on. I like a league of their own. but it's a great movie. Field of Dreams. Field of Dreams.

Field of Dreams. Oh, wow. Well, you get their own. So it's also great. Tom Hanks and that is fantastic. That's one that's still quotable like today. Oh, yeah. And I don't know what you're that one.

The little fat kid that was the bat boy. Still well. Yeah. You can remember who said well as Stewart. Ball players. I don't have ball players. All right, that one didn't count because that one was on a bonus ball. All right.

Would you say your mental game on the golf course is more Tony Robbins or Tirol Hatton? Terrell Hadden. That also applies to baseball, too. I'm a big negative. self-talk guy. Really? Yeah, I like to tell myself how bad I am all the time. But it helps me.

It helps. I don't think that's a negative thing. I think that there's, if that's how you operate and if that's what gets you back to where you need to be, I think it's fine. It works for Terrell. Yeah. It works for you clearly too. I can't remember his name, but one of the young guys on the Red Sox, he's that way. And he writes in a journal, like how bad he is.

It's probably a little eight journals. I don't do that, but I will, I yell at my team. I say, I yell at myself a lot. Like, that's kind of my way of getting it out. It's just telling myself how bad I am. Perfect. That's like, it's hard to not be that in golf. And baseball got similar.

It's a game of failure. Like you get three out of ten hits like your world beater. Yeah, I mean, that's all like, Tiger has so many viral clips where he hits a bad shot. He's like, you suck. Yeah, right. That's me. Nobody believes him. Yeah, that's right.

I'll say between pitches, I'll chase a pitch. I'll be like, you know, my goodness, Brian, you are terrible. And the catcher's probably like this guy's a psycho. The guy for the Red Sox is Duran. It was Jaron. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, but there's six. He dropped a fly up in that in that locker room.

Yeah. I've never written it. out. He dropped a fly ball. And they were interviewing an actor. He's like, well, I'm just going to go home and write my journal and tell us how shitty I am. That's something when he's all done.

Like, you got to release that. Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm sure there's some darkness. That would be phenomenal. All right. I'm very interested in this one here because I said you to speak on it somewhere. The Fister Hotel. Yeah.

In Milwaukee. Yeah. Is it truly haunted? I mean, it seems like it. I've never. You got a story? My TV changed channels a few times. But that was my, that's my.

that's my most, like, that's my only story there. And it was, that could also just be faulty wiring because it's a very old hotel. So I don't know. Other guys have more extreme stories, more convincing stories. There's, yeah, there seems to be something going on there. Like, Mookie, Moogie Betts has a story. I don't think, I don't think Moogie stays there. I think Bryce has a pretty intense story.

I don't think Moogie stays there anymore. There's some other guys that won't stay there. What are some of the other stories that go around? Do you remember any of them? I think there's like, I don't remember who it was. I think there's stories of like clothes being thrown over the room, like furniture move, like things that would be like, all right, I'm, I'm good here. Like, I'm going to go get in here.

I heard about this place. It's supposed to be not. Why do you all stay there? Why do you stay there? It's a good question. It's a nice hotel. I don't know, but yeah, I don't know. But it's haunted.

That's crazy. All right. You went to Mississippi State. It did. Is it true your freshman year? You were voted one of the worst players on the team? Second to worst player on the team. Okay.

Why is there even that vote? That is a, so that was. All right, guys. Who is your source on that one? I'm just curious. My man, Chris Vernon. Was it? Yeah.

Okay. That makes sense. So our head coach at that time, at the end of every year, at the end of every fall, I'm sorry. So you go to obviously, for people who don't know who the college baseball season works. You go there, fall workouts, you do a bunch of fall into squads, then the dead periods, like, when you get into exams. But once we finished all of our fall under squads, we all received a packet.

And with like a list of, like, rank one through, 20 position players, rank one through 20 pitchers, rank who you would start in a lineup, who you wouldn't start to line up, on and on and on and on. And then we were given the results, like, at the end of the fall, for you to kind of reflect on and see how your teammates, not valued you, but ranked you as a player. And we had 20 position players, and at the end of my freshman fall, I was ranked 19th. Damn. What a, what a thing to do as a coach.

All right. I mean, I agree. I agree. I was like, yeah. Yeah, yourself talk. You were like, yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

Can't believe I beat somebody. When I got to school, I was not ready to compete at that level at all. So I struggled mightily my first fall. And that made the rankings. I couldn't argue. I was like, yeah, that makes sense. 19 out of 20. Last year, SEC player of the year, right?

Yep. Yeah. What do you think now? Rewrite. All right. When you're in right field, I feel like there's a lot of access to you as a field from the fans. Which fan base talks the most shit? New York's bad

Philly is bad That's hard to believe Those are two obvious evident ones Sometimes they're bad And then sometimes like They're on you But like it can be fun The times

The best term I've ever gotten Was 2021 I was playing right field in Cleveland It was early on in the year So like I was hitting like I don't know I was like one for 30

Probably to start the year And a guy out there sitting Who had one of those giant Like the comically giant gloves on He yelled to me and he said, my BAC is higher than your batting average. And I thought that was my favorite all-time chirp. I was like, that's funny.

It's topical and it's probably true. So, yeah, I appreciate that you're having this time. You must be hammered. But I did like that one. Those Philly people real classy out there. That's good. I've had some interactions with them over the years. All right.

Long drive contest among current day MLB players. Who gets the title? Um, I'm trying to Tyler Ferguson on our team can really move it. He hits it out there. J.P. Sears is very, he's one of my best friends. I played with him the most of anybody. He's, he, he swings it.

He gets it out there. I haven't played with that many guys, though, that I can think of. I just remember the video of Trout at Top Golf. Yeah. I mean, like, yeah, that ball, that was, that speed was crazy. So it could be, it could very well be, Mike. I don't really know. Um,

but yeah, I would love to set that up. It wouldn't be me as we've already covered, but I would like to watch it. Trout would be up there. You could bring in, I mean, he retired a few years ago.

Aaron Hicks. Yeah, he doesn't count. Hicks. Hicks and he's good now. Yeah, he's really good. He is good.

Gagne. Yeah. I've seen Trout hit it. I mean, Trout. Yeah. Poof buddy. That's where you go in Jersey.

You got his own place now. Yeah, it's very good place to check out. Yeah. Definitely to do that. We were on, have you played Silverleaf here before? I haven't.

So we're on the 10th hole one day, and he's like, what do I do off this tea? And I was like, well, it's probably just like a three iron for you up there because it's like 300 runout. Yeah. And it's uphill as well. And we get up there. He's like, why didn't I hit, just hit driver over this? I go, well, I've never played with anyone where that's actually. I didn't know that was an option.

It's probably adjusted like 350 up the hills. I didn't realize that was an option. I never really thought about that. Sorry, dude. Good point. Yeah. That's good. All right.

My last one. I need to know who, who built the pyramids. See, I hate this question because here, here's, Here's the thing that you media types do. You media types? I don't take that as a company. We're big journalists. Please,

the media type. Jerns what happens is I make an offhanded comment like one time trying to be funny about something. And then I just become this conspiracy guy and all. Hey, look, man, I don't know. For the same place for conspiracies, by the way. For sure.

I believe that. You want to talk them for sure. Look, man, I don't know. There seemed, I don't know who built them. It's crazy though. You want to talk about it? Like, it's nuts.

The type of thing or the type of thing. or the type of technology would take to theoretically build those things. It's the wildest shit of all time. And people say, oh, you're a loony. Like, all right. They're gigantic. You tell me how they did them. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thousands of miles. Yeah. So I don't know. And they fit perfectly. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, it's just a little too. Oh, it's a little too good to be true. I'm not ruling it out, by the way. It's not, let's not rule it out. For sure. You media. Yeah.

That's the first time I've heard that. I like that. I have to ask one last one because you are from Memphis. My producer, my boss over at CBS. is a Memphis guy. Favorite barbecue spot. I'm a rendezvous. I love rendezvous.

And that's like I could, it's the tourist answer. Like it's the most popular one. But like I love, I love the fribbs at rendezvous. As he'll tell you like, I mean, you got to be good to survive and there's several of us

survived a very long time. Top's great. Central's great. Rendezvous is great. In Germantown, commissary is really good. But I'm a rendezvous guy. They always have rendezvous on the range

either Tuesday or Wednesday. Oh, yeah. Drew a good deal for you. Yeah. It's a perfect setting to eat it. But it's all. always good.

Well, Rook, man, thank you so much for coming in. This has been a blast. Best of luck this season. Thank you. Appreciate it. Happy to be here. All right, that was Brent Rooker joining us on subpar, also known as the second worst player's freshman year at Mississippi State. Yeah.

Fuck you think now. What did you want to do it? Let's do a re-ranking down here a few years later. We'll do total money earned hits, RBIs, home runs, whatever you want, whatever metric you want. Yeah, but that was cool, man. He loves his golf. I love the Scotty Sheffler, Shohei Otani comparison.

I also love that he's one. for two against Shoah with a home run. You should never face him again. I'd be injured anytime. Show Hey, I'm out. I got the elbow. I got the elbow thing a little.

So how was your career against Showy? Well, I had a home run half the time. Yeah. I don't see what the big deal is about the guy. I really wanted to get into that haunted hotel, I find very fascinating, that they all seem to stay there and they all have these crazy stories about it. I'd heard it for a while. He gave us a few.

And then I think he thought I was trying to, like, set them up. You know how I was media types of. You media people. You know what I mean? But I did want to hear the pyramids theme. I could, by the way, if you want to come back and just talk about that for an hour, I'm ready. Anytime. Let's get Brent Rooker, Jeremy Roneck and DA.

No, here and do some conspiracy theory. We will figure it all out. JFK was the aliens. And McCourt. He also built the pyramids. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it's good.

That's fun. And also, thank you. I can't wait to try his recommendation in Birmingham, Michigan, which is where we're staying for the rocket this year. Toast. Man knows his breakfast joints. I like that. So take that. Take that and put in your pipe.

I love it. All right. That's going to do it for us. Enjoy the Arnold Palmer Invitational. And one of us will probably be very happy after the member member, possibly a three-peat.

Who knows? We'll talk to you next week on subpar.