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Rangers Star Jake Burger Explains How He's Going to Turn Things Around in 2026

Originally posted on Texas Rangers on SI | By Brad Wakai | Last updated Nov 2, 2025 9:00 AM ET

Last offseason, the Texas Rangers made a headline-grabbing trade when they acquired slugger Jake Burger from the Miami Marlins.

At the time, the move was seen as a potential gamechanger. Not only did the Rangers solidify their first base position by adding a player who had hit 34 home runs in 2023 and 29 in 2024, but they also acquired him in his prime during his arbitration years.

Unfortunately for both Burger and Texas, that did not come to fruition this season. He was seen as a massive disappointment, with injuries plaguing him throughout the year that caused him to finish with a slash line of .236/.269/.419, 16 homers, 53 RBIs and an OPS+ that was one point below the league average mark of 100.

Simply put, the Rangers need him to be better in 2026 if they are going to get back to the playoffs, let alone compete for another championship. And the slugger has an idea of how he's going to make that happen.

Jake Burger Will Adjust His Approach

In a wide-ranging interview with Kennedi Landry of MLB.com where he called his performance in 2025 "very inconsistent," Burger gave some insight into what he's going to work on before the start of next season. And one of those adjustments will be to his approach.

"I think, for me, it's addressing that inconsistency by making sure when I'm not seeing the ball well, how I can contribute at the plate rather than three- or four-pitch strikeouts," Burger said. "Being able to move runners in those situations, even sac bunts, whatever it may take to win."

Texas has a roster full of star players, which is why it was so shocking to see this offense perform as poorly as they did throughout the entirety of this past season. Perhaps some of that had to do with them trying to do too much, as those star players tried to live up to that billing.

JAKE BURGER WALKS IT OFF TO COMPLETE THE RANGERS COMEBACK IN THE 10TH pic.twitter.com/VFoNgbaQSu
— ESPN (@espn) August 12, 2025

It should also be pointed out that Burger is a relatively inexperienced player at the big league level. His first full season didn't come until 2023 when he played 141 games with the Chicago White Sox and Marlins. Prior to that, he had only appeared in 66 total MLB games in 2021 and 2022, combined. So there are still things he's learning. And now he'll have to make adjustments coming off the first real bit of adversity he's faced since becoming a full-time major league player.

"... probably working on how I'm going to game-plan day in and day out," Burger added. "Just working on approaches. And also having at-bats where it's like, 'All right, work on your B swing here.' You're not feeling good today. Let's see how we work in that bat."

Whether that will get Burger to the level he was previously when the Rangers acquired him isn't clear. But he has a plan for how he's going to improve his offensive game this offseason, and hopefully that allows him to produce big time results in 2026.