ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The Texas Rangers optioned slumping slugger Jake Burger to Triple-A Round Rock on Friday, a move that comes when the entire team is struggling to score runs.
Burger, a first baseman and one of their key offseason acquisitions, hit .190 with three home runs, 12 RBIs and a team-high 32 strikeouts in 100 at-bats his first 30 games with the Rangers.
The move was made before the start of a three-game series against AL West-leading Seattle.
Texas selected the contract of first baseman Blaine Crim, a 19th-round draft pick in 2019, from Round Rock. Infielder Jonathan Ornelas was recalled from the Triple-A squad and infielder Nick Ahmed was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Crim.
The Rangers went into the series having lost seven of their last nine games. They scored 28 runs in that stretch, but most of those came when they had a season-high 15 against Oakland on Tuesday. They scored only 13 runs in those other eight games, including a 2-0 win.
Texas was last in the American League with 103 runs scored, and was 16-16 overall while its starting pitchers ranked first in the league with a 2.93 ERA.
Designated hitter Joc Pederson, a free agent when he became the team’s other prominent offensive addition last winter, is hitting .108. He was as low as .052 after a recent 0-for-41 drought, the franchise’s longest hitless stretch since at least 1974, according to STATS Inc.
The 29-year-old Burger was acquired from Miami in a trade during the winter meetings in December. He hit 29 homers and had 76 RBIs for the Marlins last season, after a combined 34 homers and 80 RBIs in 2023 when he was with the Chicago White Sox before a trade deadline deal to Miami.
