The Texas Rangers recalled veteran infielder Jake Burger from Triple-A Round Rock and optioned first baseman Blaine Crim as the team prepared to host the Colorado Rockies in the first of a three-game series Monday.
Burger struggled early this season with his new team, hitting only .190 in 30 games. He hit three home runs and drove in 12 runs for Texas to open 2025, but had struck out 32 times in 100 at-bats and was demoted after the Rangers' 3-0 loss to the Athletics on May 1.
He was sent down to Round Rock on May 2 and picked up his production in his past five minor league games. The 29-year-old, now with his third organization in the past three seasons, recorded multiple hits in four of five outings, including home runs on May 10 and 11 at El Paso.
Burger's start was a microcosm of Texas' start on offense this season, a team full of established major league hitters who have struggled. Last week, a day after after Texas fired offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker, the Rangers hired former big league All-Star infielder Bret Boone as a hitting coach.
The results have been mixed. The Rangers just completed a six-game trip in which they went 3-3, but they scored 16 runs in the final two games of a weekend set against the Detroit Tigers, both wins.
Burger produced 63 home runs and drove in 156 runs in 2023-24. After hitting 25 homers in 88 games for the White Sox to start the 2023 season, he was dealt to Miami on Aug. 1. He added nine more long balls for Miami in 53 games, then paced the Marlins with 29 home runs in 137 games in 2024.
Burger was dealt to the Rangers for three players in December 2024.
Crim was hitless in 13 plate appearances, drawing one walk and one hit by pitch in a span of five games for Texas.
Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.
