Texas Rangers Offseason Trade Acquisition Open to 'Position Flexibility'

The Texas Rangers have been busy this offseason to try and fix the issues that plagued them in their 2024 campaign.

The club re-signed pitcher Nathan Eovaldi to a three-year, $75 million deal, signed reliever Jacob Webb to a one-year, $1.25 million deal, and signed catcher Kyle Higashioka to a two-year, $13.5 million deal, among many other free agent signings either of the Major or minor league variety.

The Rangers have been active on the trade market, as well, with many of their trades taking place to make room on their roster for signings. One trade, however, was to add more depth to their roster when they acquired Jake Burger from the Miami Marlins.

Burger is a 6-2, 230-pound corner infielder, whose main weapon is the home run power that he provides at the plate. The slugger hit 34 home runs through 141 games in 2023, and reached 29 across 139 games in 2024 while playing the majority of his games at LoanDepot Park, a stadium notoriously bad for home runs.

While the lion's share of Burger's time in Major League Baseball on the defensive side of the ball has come at either third or first base, the slugger told MLB Network Radio recently that he is open to "position flexibility" and playing "wherever they need" him.

"For me, it's wherever they need me, that's where I'll play. I've always said that. I played second base [with the Chicago White Sox] for like five games. So wherever they need me, I'll play."

Burger is not the best in the field, with a career Outs Above Average of -20 at third base across four seasons. 2023 marked his first foray at first base, and he has totaled a much more sightly -1 Outs Above Average there, but he says he has gotten more comfortable at the position with his time there in 2024.

"Definitely got more comfortable with first base last season. I almost split all of my games defensively between third and first. I think it was like, 68 and 69 or something like that. As the season wore on, I felt way more comfortable over at first."

Burger was pretty close with his estimates, though it was 59 games at third in 2024, and a nice 69 at first.

Fangraphs has the slugger projected to start at first in 2025, which does seem to be where they will need him most after trading Nathaniel Lowe to the Washington Nationals.

2025 is shaping up to be an exciting year in Arlington, and the fireworks will surely come en masse with slugger Jake Burger in the lineup.