It's clear that Oakland Athletics All-Star Brent Rooker thinks very highly of Seattle Mariners ' reliever Matt Brash.
Answering some fan questions on social media on Monday, Rooker declared that Brash has the best slider he's ever seen.
Matt Brash. Although I’m not sure you can even call that thing a slider. It deserves its own category that we haven’t invented yet.
Rooker isn't wrong, Brash's stuff is incredibly nasty. One of the best pure arms in all of baseball, Brash went 9-4 this season for Seattle with a 3.06 ERA. He led baseball in appearances with 78 and tossed 70.2 innings. In those innings, he struck out 107 batters.
He's got the slider that Rooker mentions and also features a 100 mph fastball. He began his big league career as a starter for the 2022 Mariners but came back up as a reliever in that year and was off and running in 2023.
He figures to be a major part of the M's bullpen again in 2024 and since the A's and Mariners are in the same division, Rooker figures to see a lot more of him again.
Rooker was also pretty good at the plate this year, making his first All-Star Game for the Athletics.
He hit .246 with 30 home runs and 69 RBI. He also posted a .817 OPS.
He just wrapped up his fourth Major League season with the Twins, Padres, Royals and A's. He played 137 games this season, which was more than he had played the previous three years combined.
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