Tag Archives: Jake Burger

May 22, 2025

Best Batter Today

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Wednesday brought another big shakeup to the top five in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Cal Raleigh of Mariners moved into second place with the best game score of that group, a 73. He went two for three with two walks, a double, and a home run in a 6-5 win over the White Sox. He now owns a .370 OBP and a .584 slugging percentage, both well above his career averages.

Raleigh trails Aaron Judge by about 21 points as Judge went one for three with a walk in a 4-3 win over the Rangers, Jasson Dominguez hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. Judge’s BA stands at .402.

In the same game, Jake Burger of the Rangers recorded the best game score of the day, a 79. Burger went three for four with two home runs, raising his slugging percentage to .417. He is an out machine, with a .268 OBP, but he hits for power well with a .190 isolated power.

Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers dropped to third place after an 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in a 3-1 win over the Diamondbacks.

Isaac Paredes of the Astros cracks the top five with a two for four, both hits home runs, in an 8-4 Rays win. Parades moved into fourth place and owns a .378 OBP and a .483 slugging percentage. Both would give him new single season highs if they hold up. He slugged .833 in his last six games.

Kyle Tucker of the Cubs returned to the top five in fifth place. He posted a three for four night with a home run in a 2-1 win over the Marlins. Tucker also put the ball in play that led to an error, allowing the winning run to score. Note that Parades was part of the deal that sent Tucker to the Cubs.

February 22, 2025

Changes, Texas Rangers

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The Rangers acquired the following players for their 2025 active roster:

The Rangers rebuilt their bullpen after posting the second highest walk rate in the majors, 4.16 per 9 IP, and the fourth highest home run rate at 1.18 per 9 IP. Martin, Armstrong, and Miller project to walk rates below three. Martin and Garcia project to less than a home run per 9 IP. As a group, they all should show much better control and a somewhat better ability to keep the ball in the park. It appears the Rangers understood the weakness of their pitchers and took drastic action to fix the problem.

Pederson is pretty much the definition of what a DH should be. He generates offense with little defensive ability. Rangers designated hitters produced a .204/.263/.322 slash line in 2024, which would be embarrassing for a catcher or a shortstop. Musings Marcels has Pederson at .254/.354/.461. Another problem fixed.

Burger takes over at first base, and this looks like a step back. They traded away Nathaniel Lowe to improve the pen with Garcia. Burger won’t get on base as much, but it’s possible out of Miami that his good home run power gets better.

Higashioka is a solid defensive backup behind the plate.

In general, the Rangers identified weaknesses and did a good job of filling the holes.

August 11, 2024

Flame Broiled

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Jake Burger of the Marlins continued his hot hitting Sunday afternoon with a three for four game against the Padres, including a home run. That helped Miami take the game 7-6. Burger struggled through his first 66 games, posting a poor .215/.254/.348 slash. Starting July 6th, however he’s slashed .330/.395/.739 with 38 hits, 18 extra base hits, and 30 RBI. It hasn’t helped the Marlins much, since they are 14-17 in that time.

July 14, 2024

Best Batter Today

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Aaron Judge and Juan Soto of the Yankees remain 1-2 respectively in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Judge collected a double and a home run to bring his extra-base hit total to 59, but his recent slump still left his projections short of 100 EXBH for the season. Soto went two for five and homered, and the sluggers have now combined for 57 homers on the season. They are on a pace to combine for 95 homers. The Yankees defeated the Orioles 6-1. New York is still in second place, even in games back but one game behind in the AFILC.

Bryce Harper of the Phillies moves into third place with a game score of 76, the fifth highest on the day. He went two for three with two walks, a double, and a home run in the 11-5 win over the former Philadelphia Athletics.

Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers takes fourth place as he hit his 200th career home run on Saturday, part of a 2 for four with two walks and the 33rd triple of his career. The Dodgers, however, blew a five-run lead in the ninth inning and lost to the Tigers 11-9 in ten innings. Colt Keith of the Tigers went three for four with walk, a double and a home run in the ninth inning that tied the game for the second highest game score of the day, a 78.

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros rounds out the top five after a single and a walk in a 2-1 Rangers win.

Jake Burger of the Marlins brought the heat with the highest game score of the day, a 79. He went four for five with a home run and four RBI, but it wasn’t enough as the Reds took the game 10-6. Burger needed the big day, which left him with a .225/.265/.368 slash line.

April 5, 2024

Best Batter Today

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A small number of games on Thursday brought no change to the top five in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. With no one in the top five playing the order remains Yordan Alvarez of the Astros first, Mookie Betts of the Dodgers second, Juan Soto of the Yankees third, Jose Altuve of the Astros fourth, and Corey Seager of the Rangers fifth.

Jake Burger of the Marlins posted the best game score of the day, an 82, as deuces were wild in the 8-5 Cardinals win. Burger recorded two at bats with two hits, two home runs, two walks, two RBI and two runs scored. The solo nature of those home runs explain why that great game didn’t help the Marlins win.

Burger is one of the few Marlins off to a great start, with a .355/.400/.581 slash line. Those were his first home runs of the season. He’s a .505 career slugger, the difference in his game since joining the Marlins is his ability to get on base increased. He had a .291 OBP with the White Sox, .361 with the Marlins.

September 17, 2023

Best Batter Today

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The top five in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings saw a small shuffle as a result of Saturday’s games. Julio Rodriguez stayed on top with a double and a walk in a 6-2, eleven inning Dodgers win, all the scoring coming in extra innings. Mookie Betts, who went one for six to drop to fifth place, scored the go-ahead run in the 11th after an initial placement. The win clinches the division for the Dodgers, as they hold the tie-breaker with Arizona.

The Dodgers secured yet another NL West crown Saturday night with a 6-2 victory in 11 innings over the Seattle Mariners. It’s the 10th division title in the past 11 seasons for Los Angeles, and the celebration featured hugs and championship T-shirts on the field before bubbly was popped in the clubhouse.

“Winning the division is something always special, but doing it by winning a baseball game and not by default makes it more special,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Tonight we get a chance to celebrate with one another, celebrate with our fans.”

ESPN.com

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros posted a two for five with a double in a 10-8 Royals win for fourth place. Once again, all three AL West contenders take a loss.

Matt Olson and Ronald Acuna Jr.of the Braves rank second and third respectively. Acuna did not play on Saturday as he rested a minor injury. Olson went two for three with a walk and his 52nd home run of the season in the 11-5 Marlins win. Jake Burger of the Marlins posted the best game score of the day, a 77 with a three for four, including a walk, double and a home run. He’s hitting .303/.357/.510 since joining Miami. Jazz Chisholm Jr. posted the second highest game score of the day, a 75, and hit the Marlins’ first grand slam of the season.

August 1, 2023

The Two Jakes

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The Marlins go the fast food route, acquiring Jake Burger from the White Sox for pitcher Jake Eder:

And Burger, 27, gives them a player who can add some instant power to the lineup as long as Miami can deal with the elevated swing-and-miss and strikeout rates. Burger, who is under team control through the 2028 season, entered Tuesday hitting just .214 but with 25 home runs — a mark that ties Jorge Soler for the most on Miami’s roster — to go along with 15 doubles, 52 RBI and 44 runs scored.

…

Burger has a career 31.6-percent strikeout rate. This season, he has 102 strikeouts in 323 plate appearances. He ranks among the worst in the league this season in strikeout rate (seventh percentile), swing-and-miss rate (35.4 percent, fifth percentile) and chase rate (38.9 percent, sixth percentile).

MiamiHerald.com

Of course, one should concentrate on what a player can do, not what he cannot do. Burger will give the team extra home run power. In a way, he diversifies the Marlins offense as he and Luis Arraez occupy different extremes of the offensive spectrum.

Eder is seasonal age 24. He strikes out a ton of batters but walks a ton also. So the Marlins get power without giving up too much.

The Marlins were not done, as they acquire Josh Bell from the Guardians and Ryan Weathers from the Padres. Bell played poorly for Cleveland this season, but his history is one of getting on base. I’m not sure what the Marlins see in Weathers, since none of this three-true outcomes are very good.

July 28, 2023

Best Batter Today

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Only one player in the top five of the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings saw action on Thursday. Shohei Ohtani of the Angels played in both ends of a doubleheader, a sweep of the Tigers. Ohtani pitched a one-hit shutout in game one, but went 0 for 5 at the plate. In the nightcap, he posted a two for three, both hits for home runs. His game score of 66 in game two was not enough to make up for his game score of 33 in game one, and Ohtani drops to second place, 0.68 points behind Freddy Freeman of the Dodgers.

Note that despite none of the others playing Ronald Acuna Jr.of the Braves moves back into the top five as Christian Yelich drops to sixth place. I have to assume there was a scoring change in a recent game that changed the ranking.

Kyle Tucker of the Astros and Juan Soto of the Padres rank third and fourth respectively.

The best game score of the day belongs to Jake Burger of the White Sox, a 78. Burger posts a two for three with two home runs and a walk in a 6-3 Guardians win. Burger’s slash line now stands at an extreme .217/.273/.528. He is an out machine that hits for tremendous power. He is in line for a rare but more frequently occurring feat, a season with his isolated power (Slug-BA) greater than his OBP:

Last NameFirst NameSeasonBAISOOBP
BurgerJake20230.2170.3110.273
ZuninoMike20210.2160.3420.301
BruceJay20190.2160.3060.261
MartinezJ.D.20170.3030.3870.376
BondsBarry20010.3280.5360.515
WilliamsMatt19940.2670.3390.319
WilliamsMatt19890.2020.2530.242
MincherDon19640.2370.3100.300
Isolated Power > OBP, Min 300 PA, since 1920

There is a real mix of talent here. Martinez and Bonds did this while posting incredible seasons. Williams is the only player do accomplish this twice, and was on an historic home run pace when the 1994 season ended prematurely. Zunino and Bruce posted the most extreme seasons. Mincher stood as the oddity for a long time, but if this chart is any indication, we’ll be seeing more seasons like this.

Burger is Ken Phelps without the walks.

June 4, 2023