There wasn't much for the Oakland Athletics to celebrate this season. The A's went 69-93 and finished fourth in the American League West in their final season in Oakland.

Brent Rooker got a consolation prize on Tuesday, earning the American League Silver Slugger as the best designated hitter in the league.

In doing so, he made some history, becoming the first Athletics player to win a Silver Slugger since Eric Chavez in 2002. Rooker is also the first Oakland player to ever win the award as a DH, according to Martín Gallegos of MLB.com.

Rooker earned the award. In 145 games in 2024, he hit .293 with 39 home runs and 112 RBI. He also hit for a .927 OPS and a .362 average on balls in play.

As great as those numbers are, Rooker thought they should have been even better. In a humorous post to X (formerly Twitter), the DH opined in October that all official scorers should be former hitters. He quoted that post with another note.

“I might’ve hit .300 this year if this was the case so I may be a little biased,” he wrote. “Looking at you, official scorer in Houston on May 15 along with a few others.”

Despite any scoring irregularities, Rooker still managed to improve his average by 47 points from 2023, a breakout season in which he was named to his first AL All-Star team. He also notched career highs in almost every offensive category in 2024, only his second complete season in the big leagues.

The Athletics do not plan to trade Brent Rooker

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Rumors flew toward the end of the 2024 season that the Athletics could look to trade Rooker, but general manager David Forst threw cold water on the idea.

“We're going to keep [Rooker],” he told Jon Heyman of the New York Post on November 5.

And why should they trade him? Rooker still has three more years of team control as he enters his first season of arbitration, making him an affordable piece to build around — at least for now.

The A's only won 69 games in 2024, but that's still a 19-game improvement from 2023. The problem going forward, however, may be attracting talent to West Sacramento in the short term. The Athletics will play their home games in a minor league park that they will share with the San Francisco Giants' Triple-A affiliate until they can move into their permanent Las Vegas home in a couple years.

By the time the ballpark in Las Vegas is ready, Rooker will hit free agency and it will be decision time for the Athletics. But that's in the distant future. For now, he's a bright spot with a losing franchise that's about to become an even less attractive destination.