Jake Burger’s career nearly stopped before it really began. Now, he’s proving key for the Marlins

Jake Burger found himself in an unusual spot. He was joining a new team midseason, traded to the Miami Marlins at MLB’s trade deadline after spending his entire career with the Chicago White Sox. He was excited for the opportunity — Miami, after all, acquired Burger in the midst of a playoff push, something the 27-year-old hadn’t experienced yet.

But it also came with expectations that Burger felt he had to fulfill immediately. The third baseman is known for his power and his ability to make a devastating impact on a ball when he makes enough contact. It’s something the Marlins’ offense sorely needed, but the team didn’t want Burger putting too much pressure on himself to be an instant hero.

Burger tried to toe that line, too. Midway through a round of swings in the batting cage before his first game with the Marlins on Aug. 2, he stopped himself.

“Hey, just tone it back a little bit,” he told himself. “Don’t trying to take huge hacks every single time you step into the box. Just slow it down.”

“That’s something they don’t really prepare you for,” Burger said later on. “You know you’re coming in and you know what you need to do, but it’s tough chasing results. It’s just kind of staying within yourself.”

So far, Burger has managed to do that.

Entering Monday’s series opener against the Houston Astros, Burger is hitting .317 (13 for 41) with an .879 on-base-plus-slugging mark, four doubles, one home run, six RBI and four runs scored.

His RBI single in the ninth inning Sunday capped Miami’s wild, 8-7 walk-off win over the New York Yankees in which the Marlins scored five runs in the final frame.

He has safely reached base in 10 of his first 11 games with the Marlins and has four multi-hit games.

And Burger isn’t sacrificing power to bump up his batting average. Of Burgers 33 balls play through his first 11 games with Miami, 12 have an exit velocity of at least 100 mph — he’s one of only 18 players to have that many since Aug. 2.

“I feel like I’m settling in,” Burger said.

But there almost came a point where Burger decided to stop playing the sport all together.

A pair of injuries and then the COVID-19 pandemic kept him out of the sport for essentially three full years right as he was starting his professional career in the White Sox organization.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing here. I don’t know if I can miss this much time and be a valuable player,’” Burger said. “But I kept working, put my head down and kept working and that’s kind of mentality I keep now.”

That mentality has been ingrained in him by a solid support system. He has a supportive wife Ashlyn and 9-month-old son Brooks.

“It’s always fun just to kind of take that step away and just see how happy he is,” Burger said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re on an 0-for-30 streak or 30-for-30 streak. He’s still gonna love me the same. That’s just kind of the perspective I try and give myself every single night.”

Burger grew up in St. Louis in a family where athletics and competition were a staple. He played both baseball and hockey growing up — even rubbing elbows with current Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk in his early days — before choosing to pursue baseball full time. His parents were both athletes at the University of Evansville, with dad Mike playing baseball and mom Shannon playing tennis. His sister Ellie played tennis at Missouri State, where she is now the coach of the women’s tennis team.

“It’s been a competitive household since since we were born,” Burger said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Wii bowling on Christmas Day or ping pong downstairs in the basement, whatever it may be. We were always gonna compete. It doesn’t matter what type of game.”

That competitiveness helped him land a scholarship at Missouri State, where he hit .339 with 47 home runs and 179 RBI through three seasons before being selected 11th overall by the Chicago White Sox in the 2017 MLB Draft. He made an early impression during his first season of pro ball, hitting .271 with a .744 OPS in 47 games at Single A in 2017.

Then came the injuries. He ruptured the Achilles tendon in his left leg during spring training and missed all of the 2018 season. Burger re-tore the Achilles about 10 weeks after the initial injury while walking in his backyard.

And then he missed all of the 2019 due to a bruised left heel, sidelining him for a second consecutive season.

“Multiple times I’ve thought about quitting and being done with it,” Burger said. “There was a breaking point where I actually told my parents that I was thinking about it too. They both just said don’t live with regrets and that I’m gonna regret it if you quit. I’ve stuck to it and ultimately turned out the right decision for me.”

Burger finally returned to an everyday role in 2021, when he excelled for the White Sox’s Triple A affiliate and received his first MLB call-up in July of that year. He had two hits in his MLB debut on July 2, 2021, and hit his first MLB home run in his first home game on July 17, 2021, against the Astros, sending an Austin Pruitt fastball a projected 456 feet to left field in the seventh inning.

Those thoughts of doubts over all those years started to subside.

“OK, this is an option,” Burger remembers telling himself. “If I just keep working hard and you know, who knows what can happen?”

His true breakthrough finally came this season. He’s tied for 12th in MLB with 26 home runs and is ranked among MLB’s best in average exit velocity (92 mph, 89th percentile), hard-hit rate (49.8 percent, 90th percentile) and barrel percentage (18.9 percent, 98th percentile).

Combine that with the fact that he is under team control through the 2028 season, and he was a prime target for the Marlins at the Aug. 1 trade deadline. Miami sent left-handed pitcher prospect Jake Eder to the White Sox in return.

The Marlins did a $5 burger deal at loanDepot park when he made his debut, a night in which he went 2 for 4 with a walk and a run scored. Burger has been steady at the plate since.

(And to answer the obvious question: Yes, Burger enjoys a good burger, particularly his dad’s smashburgers. Pickles are a must and he prefers mustard or mayonnaise over ketchup.)

“Ever since I got the official word that I had been traded, I had butterflies all the way,” Burger said. “I still have them now. That’s exciting. I’ve always heard butterflies are good. That means you care. I’ll ride with them and help the team win in any way.”