In this train wreck of a 19-games-under .500 season, the White Sox’ Jake Burger is keeping his game on the rails.
While far from a finished product, Burger is enjoying an emergent first full season, wielding a valuable power bat.
Burger is batting .214/.270/.504 going into the Sox’ two-game series Tuesday against the Cubs. It’s far from a head-turning hitting line, but Burger’s .774 OPS and 107 OPS+ rank third on the team behind Luis Robert Jr. and Eloy Jimenez.
What’s more, Burger’s 21 home runs rank second on the Sox to Robert’s 28. And better yet, his average of one homer every 12.71 at-bats is second in the American League to Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani among batters with a minimum of 275 at-bats.
Burger is also 6-for-13 with a homer in three games against the Cubs, which could curry favor from chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, an avid Cubs loather. Adding style points to his 2023 résumé, Burger has thwacked three balls at 116 mph or faster, the second-most by a Sox player in the Statcast era behind Daniel Palka in 2018, and his 461-foot homer July 16 in Atlanta was the longest by a Sox player this season.
‘‘His power — sheesh,’’ third-base and infield coach Eddie Rodriguez said. ‘‘You can hear it. It’s a different sound. You know it when he hits it. He’s a strong human being.’’
Burger also can run a bit, especially for someone 6-2 and 230 pounds. His sprint speed of 28.1 feet per second is 139th in the majors and trails only Robert (28.5) and Zach Remillard (28.2) on the Sox.
Oh, and one more thing: When MLB Network went looking for a Sox player to bring in-studio when the team was in New York, they tracked down Burger. His happy face and backstory of overcoming a devastating Achilles injury and depression make Burger one to root for.
But back to the player. After not making the Opening Day roster, Burger capitalized on an injury to third baseman Yoan Moncada. And now that Moncada is returning from the injured list, manager Pedro Grifol said he has to find a way to keep Burger in the lineup. Designated hitter, first base and second base are all possibilities. Grifol said Sunday it might be second, where Burger has appeared in only four games in his career.
‘‘I know we have Yoan here,’’ Rodriguez said. ‘‘But Jake’s bat plays, so to get his bat in the lineup, you may have to get creative. Is [second base] an exploratory thing? It sure is. Because if what he’s done at third base starts translating to anywhere on the field, then we really have something.’’
Rodriguez said he can see Burger’s confidence in the field growing. Burger sought out Rodriguez a week before spring training, wanting to improve his defense. He’s not Moncada with the glove, but he has looked good enough in recent weeks that Rodriguez characterizes him as ‘‘above average’’ in the field.
‘‘I am definitely very proud of where I got to, defensively and offensively,’’ Burger said. ‘‘It’s one of those years where I got a lot of information about myself and learned a lot about myself.
‘‘It gives me a looking-forward mentality of I’m proud of what I accomplished after not making the team out of camp. It’s a stepping-stone season. Some areas, I need to clean up and polish. The possibilities are limitless, in my opinion.’’
Burger’s focus at the plate is on not expanding the strike zone, laying off pitches he shouldn’t swing at and taking walks when they present themselves.
‘‘It excites me when I start talking about that stuff,’’ Burger said. ‘‘With my injury history and the adversity I dealt with, I get more excited about conquering a new feat, for sure.’’
