ARLINGTON — Both Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young and manager Bruce Bochy were clear about the future of first baseman Jake Burger.
This is not a long-term demotion. Both expect him to be back sometime this season.
“We want to get him a chance to reset, relax a little big and get back his swing,” Bochy said. He’s gonna be back up here. He’s gonna help us win a lot of games this year. We’re just in a position where we have to do something to add to this offense.”
The Rangers optioned Burger to Triple-A Round Rock on Friday and called up Blaine Crim, a 27-year-old long-time prospect, to take his place. The plan is for Crim to play at first base and perhaps share some time there with Joc Pederson and Josh Smith.
Crim has pop in his bat. This season he’s slashed .313/.365/.565 with seven home runs and 25 RBI at Round Rock.
That’s a slash the Rangers would love to see Burger emulate. He was unable to make his debut with Round Rock as Friday’s game against Sugar Land was rained out.
The Rangers dealt two prospects to the Miami Marlins to acquire Burger this offseason. Then, they traded veteran first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to the Washington Nationals for bullpen help in left-hander Robert Garcia.
Garcia has been fine. He is 1-1 with a 2.03 ERA in 16 games with one save and eight holds. Lowe has played well in Washington, where he slashed .246/.321/.449 with six home runs and 25 RBI in 32 games.
In 30 games Burger has slashed .190/.231/.330. If he were throwing in some power, that slash might be acceptable. But he only has three home runs and 12 RBI.
Burger isn’t the only player struggling. But he has options to be sent back to the minors and get additional time and coaching to figure out what isn’t working. The power is there. He has a career slash of .246/.300/.472 with 34 home runs in 2023 and 29 home runs in 2024.
“We believe in him immensely,” Young said. “It doesn’t change anything. We feel he embodies everything we want in our players. But players go through these moments and it’s our job to try to help them through that and put them in an environment that is going to allow them to succeed. Our hope is that Jake will get hot quickly and be right back with us.”
Burger’s option is a product of the entire offense and a believe that, after a month, Texas doesn’t have time to be patient. Entering the Seattle series on Friday the Rangers had lost nine of their last 13 games, dropped to .500 and into fourth place in the American League West.
With a starting rotation that has one of the best collective ERAs in baseball and a remade bullpen that has done its job all season, the offensive struggles have been magnified. Bochy knows it. Young knows it. Burger likely knew it too.
He’s just the first offensive star to get a shot at a reset. The question is whether Texas will have to reset more of its hitters?
