DALLAS — The Texas Rangers have agreed to acquire slugging corner infielder Jake Burger from the Miami Marlins for prospects, a person with knowledge of the trade told The Associated Press.
That person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the deal at the winter meetings hadn’t been announced.
Burger hit .250 with 29 home runs and 76 RBIs in 137 games for the Marlins last season, with 150 strikeouts in 535 at-bats with 31 walks. He started 59 games at third base and made 50 starts at first. Five days of service time short of being eligible for salary arbitration this offseason, he will be eligible next winter and can become a free agent after the 2028 World Series.
His acquisition came about a month after the Rangers hired former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker as a senior adviser for baseball operations. Luis Urueta, Miami’s bench coach the past two seasons, also was added recently to manager Bruce Bochy’s on-field coaching staff for 2025.
Burger was the 11th overall pick out of Missouri State by the Chicago White Sox in the 2017 amateur draft and made his big league debut in 2021. He was dealt to Miami at the trade deadline during the 2023 season, when he hit .250 with 34 homers and 80 RBIs in 141 games.
Texas had a .238 batting average this year while hitting 176 home runs and averaging 4.2 runs a game. Those stats all were down significantly from the World Series championship season in 2023, when the Rangers averaged 5.4 runs a game and hit .263 with 233 homers.
Rangers primary first baseman Nathaniel Lowe won a Silver Slugger after hitting .302 in 2022, then was a Gold Glove winner that World Series season. He hit .265 with 16 homers and 69 RBIs last season.
Third baseman Josh Jung was voted an All-Star starter as a rookie in 2023 but broke his right wrist when hit by a pitch this past April 1. He was 7 of 17 with two homers, six RBIs and five runs scored in the first four games of the season before the injury and missing 102 games while on the injured list until the end of July. He finished the season batting .264 with seven homers and 16 RBIs in 46 games, but missed the final week when he went back on the IL for right wrist tendinitis.
