San Francisco Giants vs. Oakland Athletics Prop Pick: Can Brent Rooker Bounce Back Against Giants?
The Oakland Athletics will host the San Francisco Giants on Sunday afternoon. Can Brent Rooker propel his team with a big day at the plate? Ben Rajavuori provides his top prop pick for Giants vs. Athletics.
Ben Rajavuori - August 18, 2024, 1:47 PM EDT
5 minSan Francisco Giants vs. Oakland Athletics Prop Pick: Can Brent Rooker Bounce Back Against Giants?
The Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants close out a short two-game series from Oakland Coliseum tonight in California. Surprisingly, the Athletics have been one of the best teams in baseball since the All-Star break, going 16–9 since the break. After two horrible back-to-back months in May and June, the Athletics are 23–14 in July and August. Meanwhile, the Giants have gone 15–13 since the All-Star break and our 4-1 over their last five games.
Giants vs. Athletics Date, Time and Where to Watch
- Date: August 18, 2024
- Time: 4:10 pm ET
- Where to Watch: MLB Extra Innings
San Francisco Giants vs. Oakland Athletics Prediction
Tonight, the play I love in this game is on one of the most surprising players of 2024, Brent Rooker. Rooker has been in the MLB for six seasons now and floated from team to team, not being able to really find his footing until he played 137 games with the A’s last year. His average was 'average' at .246, but this year has really been a breakout year for him, as he is 19th in baseball with a .290 average and eighth in baseball with a .944 OPS.
Brooker missed a few games early in the week due to being on paternity leave, but he returned yesterday for game one against the Giants, going 0–3 at the plate. Maybe his mojo was thrown off a little bit by taking a few games off and his mind being elsewhere with his new child. However, today I am backing him to bounce back and have a good performance against Blake Snell tonight.
Blake Snell has been absolutely on fire for the Giants after a really rough start to the season. Snell had an 11.57 ERA In April and an 8.59 ERA in May. However, in July, he had a 0.75 ERA and then threw a no-hitter against the Reds in his first starting in August. He has not allowed an earned run in five of his last seven starts, making him one of the hottest pitchers in baseball right now.
Because of how dominant Blake Snell has been, we are getting an absolute steal on Brent Brooker’s props tonight. Brooker is just -135 to record a hit tonight and +200 to record two or more bases. This is a line you rarely see for a guy who has been as good this season as Rooker.
Rooker may have failed to record a hit yesterday and his first game back off paternity leave, but he has not gone back-to-back games without a hit since early June. Rooker has also been utterly dominant against left-handed pitching. Rooker is hitting .295 against left-handed pitching this season with a 1.065 OPS, which is eighth in baseball among qualified hitters. Additionally, 14 of Rooker's 23 hits against left-handed pitching this year have been extra base hits. So while I get that Snell has been hot as of late, this line is simply too good to pass on Rooker at +200.
San Francisco Giants vs. Oakland Athletics Prop Pick
Pick: Brent Rooker Over 1.5 Bases +200 Click here to see which sportsbooks have the best odds for this pick
San Francisco Giants vs. Oakland Athletics System Projections - August 18th
MLB Odds
