Rocco began 1945 holding out for more money on his contract for the year, with negotiations stalled throughout the offseason. It took until early April, just before the season started, for the two sides to come to an agreement; Rocco had spent the offseason training at the University of Minnesota and as a result did not miss any playing time despite the holdout. While he played nearly every game in 1945, he was slow to start; it took seven straight hits over two games in June to keep his batting average over .200, and later that month was fined by manager Lou Boudreau for what he considered "indifferent play". On September 9, 1945 Rocco had two singles, two doubles, and two home runs in a doubleheader sweep over New York in front of a crowd of 72,252 at Yankee Stadium, which he considered the highlight of his professional baseball career. In a team-leading 143 games, he had a .264 batting average, 10 home runs, and 56 RBIs.