We introduce you to Brent Rooker's high school hitting coach Joe Caruso, who will pitch to the A's slugger in the 2025 Home Run Derby.
The Home Run Derby is one of the more exciting events on the baseball calendar. For participants, though, it can be a whirlwind of emotion and pressure.
Many participants over the years have said that their goal was to hit at least one home run during the competition. Nobody wants to be remembered as the guy who had a goose egg in the Home Run Derby. All of the entrants have the power to hit the long ball, so what's the biggest factor that could inhibit their success?
Their pitcher.
Batters want to make sure that they pick a pitcher who has the stamina to throw to them over the entire course of the event, as well as someone who can consistently throw the ball in their wheelhouse. Athletics slugger Brent Rooker, competing in his first Home Run Derby, is tagging in a high school coach to throw to him.
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Here's more on who is pitching to Rooker in the 2025 Home Run Derby.
Who is pitching to Brent Rooker in the Home Run Derby?
Rooker will be trying to hit home runs off his childhood coach, Joe Caruso. The Athletics slugger grew up near the Memphis area, and Caruso was his hitting coach from the age of 9 through high school. Every offseason, when Rooker goes home, he meets up with Caruso and takes batting practice, per MLB.com.
The duo had previously talked about the Home Run Derby, and Rooker always said that he would call on Caruso if he ever made the tournament field. Now that he has, Rooker is holding true to his word.
On choosing Caruso, Rooker said, "He’s probably seen me hit in the cage more than anybody and has thrown to me more than anybody, so it should be a good relationship out there. … Being able to make that call and tell him we’re going to do it was pretty cool."
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Who is Joe Caruso?
Caruso grew up in Lock Haven, Pa. He now resides in Memphis and is a founder and executive with East Coast Sox, a training program for young baseball players who hope to make it to the collegiate or pro level. Caruso has long been a hitting coach and crossed paths with Rooker when he was 9 or 10. Caruso was his batting coach for a few seasons, and then Rooker played for the East Coast Sox travel baseball team.
Caruso and Rooker kept in touch when the Athletics slugger was in college at Mississippi State. Caruso was in attendance at Rooker's draft party when the Twins selected him in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft. The pair stayed connected through his minor league journey, enduring stops in the farm systems of San Diego and Kansas City before finally getting to the bigs with the A's. Rooker has relocated his family to Memphis in the offseason so he can continue working with Caruso.
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Joe Caruso coaching background
Caruso has a solid pedigree of MLB talent that he has worked with. While he will be throwing to Rooker, he will get to reunite at the All-Star Game with Bobby Witt Jr. and Pete Alonso, both of whom are former clients.
Although Caruso hasn't had formal coaching experience at the high school or college levels, he continues to teach hitting with the East Coast Sox organization. He gives lessons in the offseason and then helps give hitting training to the organization's teams during travel ball season.
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Why Brent Rooker chose his former coach
When you are faced with a stressful situation, you look for comfort where you can find it. The 2025 Home Run Derby will be in Atlanta, so Rooker is going to be far from his Athletics family and playing in an away ballpark. Mentally, he likely went with Caruso because of the familiarity of the coach who has been teaching him how to hit since he was 10.
Rooker and Caruso have long talked about what would happen if the slugger were ever invited to participate in the derby. Rooker assured his coach that he would get the nod to pitch to him if he ever made it, and in 2025, he is staying true to that promise.
Category: Baseball
