{"id":20973,"date":"2026-01-22T02:15:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T08:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/2026\/01\/22\/reunited-with-skip-schumaker-rangers-jake-burger-is-ready-to-get-back-to-slugging\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T02:15:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T08:15:28","slug":"reunited-with-skip-schumaker-rangers-jake-burger-is-ready-to-get-back-to-slugging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/2026\/01\/22\/reunited-with-skip-schumaker-rangers-jake-burger-is-ready-to-get-back-to-slugging\/","title":{"rendered":"Reunited with Skip Schumaker, Rangers\u2019 Jake Burger is ready to get back to slugging"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction to Jake Burger and Skip Schumaker<\/h1>\n

Before Jake Burger played first base for the Texas Rangers, and before Skip Schumaker managed them, the two shared a Miami Marlins dugout and flourished alongside each other. So much so, Burger told The Dallas Morning News at one of the team\u2019s Winter Warmup stops Thursday, that he\u2019s prepared to \u201crun through a wall\u201d for Schumaker in his first season on the Texas bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really fired up,\u201d Burger said. \u201cI always think about my time in Miami with him. He was an excellent communicator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Background and Expectations<\/h2>\n

Anything specific come to mind? It\u2019s awfully prescient now. \u201cIf you play 150 games a year,\u201d Schumaker, per Burger, once told him. \u201cYou\u2019re going to do everything you\u2019re setting out to do. You\u2019re going to have a 30 home run season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burger is in search of those marks as he prepares for his second season with the Rangers and his first reunited with the manager who\u2019s seen him in or around the neighborhood of both firsthand.<\/p>\n

Performance and Improvement<\/h3>\n

The Rangers acquired him prior to last season in an attempt to pad their lineup with a slugger who could mash fastballs. Instead, as part of an offense that went wayward quick, he slashed a career-worst.236\/.269\/.419, hit only 16 home runs and struggled against four-seamers in an injury-riddled 103 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we underperformed,\u201d Burger said. \u201cI feel like I was a big part of that. I think this is that year where you wipe it clean and we all come into camp with high energy and being who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Offseason Preparations<\/h4>\n

Burger, who is fully recovered from an early offseason wrist surgery, has used this winter to rediscover the self-described \u201caggressive hitter who\u2019s there to do damage.\u201d He diagnosed his mechanics and swing data with hitting coach Justin Viele to identify the cause of his full-season career lows in home runs and slugging percentage.<\/p>\n

His good-to-great bat speed, hard hit percentage and ability to barrel balls did not lag enough to justify the stark decrease in power. The exact direction that his batted balls were or weren\u2019t going, he and Viele surmised, might have.<\/p>\n

Injury and Recovery<\/h5>\n

The 29-year-old pulled a career-low 13.5% of his total batted balls and only 7 of his 16 home runs last season. For reference: he pulled 21% of his batted balls in the previous two seasons combined and slugged 63 total home runs \u2014 40 of which were hit pullside \u2014 in the process.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s worked in the cage this winter to free up his hips and let his hands \u201cplay out in front a little more\u201d to generate easier pullside power. \u201cThat\u2019s my bread and butter,\u201d Burger said. \u201cThat\u2019s where I hit a lot of home runs. My mechanics, it felt like I was kind of cutting myself off, and that caused pop ups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manager’s Perspective<\/h6>\n

Schumaker, at baseball\u2019s winter meetings last month, acknowledged that Burger might\u2019ve done \u201ctoo much too early to justify\u201d his acquisition. He posted just a.660 OPS in the first half of the season, was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock for a rest in May and had any potential second-half surge limited by his multiple trips to the injured list.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a tough, tough kid,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cHe tried to play through a lot of these things and he tried to play catch up. I think it caught up to him for the majority of the year. I\u2019m looking forward to a big year out of Jake.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a moot point if Burger is sidelined. He missed two weeks last season because of a left oblique strain, three because of a left quadriceps injury and two because of a left wrist sprain.<\/p>\n

The wrist injury is \u201ca little finicky\u201d in his own words. The soft tissue injuries, Burger believes, are closer to preventable. He\u2019s done \u201ca lot of pilates\u201d this offseason to strengthen his core and flexibility in an effort to avoid pulls and strains.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously injuries are unforeseen and you don\u2019t know when they\u2019re going to happen,\u201d Burger said, \u201cbut you can prepare yourself to stay on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

His manager seems to believe he already knows what\u2019s possible if Burger does.<\/p>\n

Rockwall-Heath\u2019s Jett Williams traded to Brewers as part of Mets\u2019 deal for Freddy Peralta<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams, a state champion and All-Area Offensive Player of the Year at Rockwall-Heath, was the 14th overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft.<\/p>\n

\"The
\nKeep track of weekend sporting events impacted by winter storm hitting North Texas<\/span><\/p>\n

With inclement weather expected, some sporting events in Dallas-Fort Worth have been canceled.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.<\/p>\n

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.<\/p>\n

Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n

Q: Who is Jake Burger?<\/h3>\n

A: Jake Burger is a professional baseball player who currently plays for the Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n

Q: Who is Skip Schumaker?<\/h3>\n

A: Skip Schumaker is the manager of the Texas Rangers and a former teammate of Jake Burger.<\/p>\n

Q: What are Jake Burger’s expectations for the upcoming season?<\/h3>\n

A: Jake Burger is looking to improve his performance and have a big year, with the goal of playing 150 games and hitting 30 home runs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction to Jake Burger and Skip Schumaker Before Jake Burger played first base for the Texas Rangers, and before Skip Schumaker managed them, the two shared a Miami Marlins dugout and flourished alongside each other. So much so, Burger told The Dallas Morning News at one of the team\u2019s Winter Warmup stops Thursday, that he\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":20975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/MW4JJCPX6JCSLHUGGMBKTB66GM.jpg?auth=0553a53b4d8280d3b489348f53e46c86a150fa970f98dc1883fb407b520d2da4&quality=80&width=1200&height=630&focal=1729,898","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20973"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20976,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20973\/revisions\/20976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}