Not content material to look at from the sidelines at their residence Winter Conferences, the Texas Rangers dipped their toes within the water on Tuesday night. (An idiom I selected with nice care, contemplating earlier occasions of historic import at this 12 months’s venue.) Along with a three-year, $75 million deal to carry veteran righty Nathan Eovaldi again to Arlington, the Rangers acquired Jake Burger from the Marlins in alternate for minor league infielders Max Acosta and Echedry Vargas, in addition to pitching prospect Brayan Mendoza.
Any description of a Burger commerce begs out to incorporate the phrase “provides much-needed energy.” I don’t know that the Rangers want extra energy, however it’s definitely one thing you’ll be able to by no means have an excessive amount of of in your lineup. I’ll say this: Over the previous two seasons, Burger has hit 63 residence runs. So has Corey Seager. Adolis García has hit 64; Marcus Semien, 52. No person else at the moment on the Rangers has hit greater than 33.
Burger isn’t the type of 30-homer man who produces a bunch of fortunate mortar photographs and wallscrapers. Quite the opposite, this dude hits nukes. Up to now two seasons, Burger has 69 batted balls with an exit velocity of 110 mph or extra, which is eighth most within the league. He’s one in every of simply 9 hitters who’ve 5 or extra batted balls with an EV of 115 or higher, and one in every of solely eight to have damaged the 118-mph barrier even as soon as.
That type of uncooked energy is accessible solely to a choose few who’ve been judged worthy by their creator, and even then it’s important to hit the weights and eat your spinach. Given a full season’s value of enjoying time, I might anticipate Burger to go Invoice Mueller and Luke Voit to maneuver into second place all-time in profession residence runs amongst former Missouri State Bears. (Burger is simply 23 homers behind Voit for second, however 310 behind present record-holder Ryan Howard, so the leaderboard will solely shuffle a lot. They make ’em large and robust in Starkvegas.)
By way of uncooked energy alone, Burger is genuinely in a category with guys like Kyle Schwarber, Pete Alonso, and Austin Riley.
Burger vs. the Different Widebois
| Title | BB% | Ok% | ISO | GB/FB | LD% | GB% | FB% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Schwarber | 16.4% | 29.2% | .257 | 0.85 | 17.2% | 38.1% | 44.7% |
| Pete Alonso | 10.0% | 23.9% | .252 | 0.88 | 15.7% | 39.4% | 44.9% |
| Austin Riley | 8.1% | 24.5% | .222 | 0.95 | 19.5% | 39.2% | 41.3% |
| Jake Burger | 5.6% | 26.7% | .238 | 1.10 | 16.7% | 43.6% | 39.7% |
We all know that Schwarber and Riley are $20 million-a-year guys, and Alonso might be going to make much more when he indicators. Burger turns 29 years outdated subsequent April, however as a result of accidents and the pandemic worn out three seasons of his minor league profession, he’s not even arbitration-eligible but.
Absolutely the Rangers gave up a buttload as a way to get him.
Ehhh, probably not.
A pleasant perk of this information breaking throughout Winter Conferences is having our supreme potentate of prospects, Eric Longenhagen, subsequent to me within the media room whereas I write. Right here’s a abstract of what Eric needed to say in regards to the return:
Acosta bought promoted to Double-A in 2024, and he took to this weed-out stage with nice aplomb. He reduce his strikeout fee by greater than a 3rd from 2023, backstopped by a 26% two-strike chase fee. That was solely two factors greater than his already-impressive 24% total chase fee. Eight residence runs in 104 video games may not be on a regular basis starter energy, however due to a excessive common, aggressive stroll fee, and 23 doubles, Acosta posted a 113 wRC+, which is downright spectacular for a 21-year-old shortstop. He adopted that up with a powerful displaying within the Arizona Fall League.
Vargas put up good floor stats — .276/.321/.454 with 14 residence runs in 97 video games — at A-ball, however he missed the Rangers’ prospect record partially due to his gag-inducing chase charges: 44% total, 59% with two strikes, 42% in opposition to fastballs. The direct quote from Eric was “probably the most impatient hitters in all of professional baseball.” When he does make contact, he hits the ball within the air to the pull facet, which is sweet, however his lack of bodily projection (and arm energy) will most likely stop him from sticking at shortstop, and until he finds out in regards to the strike zone, he received’t hit sufficient to stay anyplace else.
Mendoza, who turns 21 in January, is a 5-foot-11 lefty who dominated Low-A over 22 appearances (17 begins) earlier than ending the season at Excessive-A. His finest pitch is a bat-missing changeup, which was a weapon after a grip change earlier than the season. He’ll additionally throw a low-90s fastball and a 10-to-4 breaking ball within the low 80s. Satirically, Mendoza’s brief stature creates the looks of an uphill angle on his fastball that makes the pitch awkward to hit regardless of its pedestrian velocity. If that holds, he might transfer rapidly and hit the majors as a back-end starter pretty rapidly. However Eric additionally warns: “If his fastball velocity sags as his workload grows, then an final result extra like Tommy Milone is probably going.”
It’s greater than the Marlins gave as much as get Burger from the White Sox a 12 months and a half in the past, however the median final result for these prospects leaves Miami with two complementary large leaguers and a shortstop who may very well be good if he learns the right way to carry out the foundational act of hitting.
So why is Burger much less beneficial than the opposite plus-plus uncooked energy guys? It’s a mix of small-to-medium-sized components. (Ironic, I suppose.)
Burger isn’t fairly as fly ball-happy as Schwarber, Alonso, or Riley, however when it comes to hitting the ball within the air to the pull facet — the shortcut to dinger-filled prosperity — he truly beats Riley fairly handily. However whereas he and Riley are each nominally third basemen, Burger provides up virtually a win of defensive worth per 12 months to his former division rival.
Then there’s the stroll fee. Burger’s profession strikeout fee is 27.5%, which is excessive, however we’ve usually accepted that strikeouts are the tradeoff for having the ability to hit a ball 115 miles an hour. Sadly, Burger doesn’t possess Schwarber’s preternatural present for strike zone judgment, and even Alonso’s competence in strike zone judgment.
Even with the strikeouts, Burger hits for an honest common: .250 on the button in every of his previous three seasons. (The main league, uh, common in 2024 was .243.) However Alonso walks twice as a lot as Burger; Schwarber walks thrice as a lot. Even with Burger’s penchant for getting hit by pitches, that involves discrepancies of roughly 20 and 50 factors, respectively, in OBP.
With all that stated, Burger’s nonetheless a superb participant. He may be a poor man’s slugger, however not that poor. Over the previous two seasons, Alonso’s been value 4.9 wins, Schwarber 4.4, and Burger 3.6 in about 80% of the enjoying time. RosterResource has Burger penciled in because the Rangers’ DH, which is smart as a result of Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Jung have the 2 infield corners locked down. However in case one in every of them will get harm — which is a chance primarily based on the truth that it occurred final season — Burger can step in. Defensively, it shouldn’t be Plan A, however he can stand at third base with a glove with out scary babies.
However he’s going to hit arbitration in a 12 months, so the Marlins figured he was about to get costly, and so they’re too poor even for the poor man’s slugger.
A lot to the Rangers’ profit.