Hard-working Burger making 'impressive' progress at first base

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- The ball will always find you.

In the first inning of the Rangers' first Cactus League game against the Royals, the ball came right at the club’s new first baseman, Jake Burger, who quickly turned a 3-6 double play to end the frame.

“I kind of like getting thrown into the fire like that,” Burger said.

Burger was a 2017 first-round Draft pick by the White Sox, with whom he spent the first two and a half years of his big league career. He was traded to Miami at the 2023 Trade Deadline and was there until joining the Rangers this offseason.

• Rangers 11, White Sox 3

Burger came up as a third-base prospect, having never played first base in the big leagues before 2023, when he appeared in five games at the position for the White Sox. In his career, he’s appeared in 74 games at first base -- all within the past two seasons -- but mainly manned third, while playing eight games at second.

Now, Burger is set to be the Rangers' starting first baseman, after the club traded Gold Glove (2023) and Silver Slugger (2022) Award winner Nathaniel Lowe to the Nationals for Robert Garcia in December.

“He’s attacking it,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He's aggressive on ground balls. He's had a really good arm, that's a pretty nice asset for a first baseman. A lot of them don't have that arm. He's got the hands, and it's just about getting reps over there, being on the other side of the field. He had quite a few last year, but to have all spring to spend time there, on different plays and angles and things like that, it's only going to get better with him. He has, to me, the potential to be one of the best first basemen in the game.”

Burger’s offensive production speaks for itself. He delivered 25-plus homers in each of the past three seasons, and he posted an .828 OPS between the White Sox and Marlins in 2023. Within the Rangers' lineup, only Corey Seager (30) hit more home runs than Burger (29) last season.

But replacing Lowe’s glove will be important. It’s ironically a fascinating development, considering Lowe was one of the worst defensive first basemen in 2022 before working his way to a Gold Glove Award.

Burger said being able to focus all his energy at one position instead of two or three could be a difference maker for him.

“Now all my attention is on [first],” Burger said. “I feel like it can really refine all my movements over there. I’m feeling good over there and getting with [infield coach Corey Ragsdale], I just keep on learning and keep getting better every single day.”

A good first baseman makes the entire infield better. But a good infield can also make the first baseman’s job easy.

Burger is more than happy to join an infield with second baseman Marcus Semien and catcher Jonah Heim -- both of whom have won Gold Glove Awards -- as well as shortstop Seager, who was a Gold Glove finalist, and third baseman Josh Jung, whose defense is an underrated aspect of his game.

“The rising tide raises all boats,” Burger said. “I think it’ll be good getting to learn from those guys, kind of what they do and their routines. I've taken a lot from Josh, just his defensive routine with his hands and footwork and stuff before we even get out on the field. So just kind of learning those small little things and how Marcus goes about his positioning, he’s helping me over on that side. That's what Spring Training is for, too, me and Marcus getting comfortable and creating that chemistry over there.”

Burger is obviously intent on getting better each day. In 2024 with Miami, he had minus-5 outs above average at third base and minus-1 at first base, according to Statcast. The metrics weren’t much better on FanGraphs, where he also had -5 defensive runs saved at third base and -1 at first base.

Despite that, the Rangers' staff believes Burger is up to the challenge.

“For Jake, the progress has been impressive,” president of baseball operations Chris Young said. “He's a hard worker. He's out there every day, taking ground balls, working on the fundamentals. One of the things that Boch has highlighted is that, because he's been a third baseman, Jake can throw, and we saw that the other day, and I think that gives him a leg up and just having the confidence to be able to make throws in the infield. He's off to a good start.”