Jake Burger, King Of Hard Contact, Is A Nice Value For The White Sox

Jake Burger has been a fan favorite for the White Sox for a few years. He may no longer be as much of a secret in a few weeks, however, as Burger is a candidate to be in Seattle for the All-Star Game.

He doesn’t have a regular position but might be the second best candidate among their position players, behind only semi-lock Luis Robert Jr. The White Sox are also campaigning for the 27-year-old Burger to be invited to the Home Run Derby, touting his elite raw power.

Burger has homered 17 times in 198 at-bats this season, one every 11.6 at-bats. He’s also struck out 72 times but the force of the contact of the bat is remarkable.

He’s played parts of three seasons on the South Side and had a max exit velocity of 114.4 miles per hour every year. His 118.2 this season is at the very top of the scale. Even more impressive, Burger has a 20.6 barrel rate and 51.6 hard-hit rate this season.

The good news for the White Sox is that he remains a financial bargain six years after being selected with the 11th overall pick in the 2017 draft. A run of major injuries kept him off the field early in his career — the most serious was an Achilles tendon he tore twice — and as a result he has only one year, 36 days service time, meaning he likely won’t be eligible for salary arbitration until after 2025.

The bad news is that the Sox struggle to find ways to use him when the highly paid Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jimenez are both healthy.

Moncada, who is in the fourth year of a five-year, $70 million contract, and like Burger has been almost exclusively a third baseman. Jimenez, who is in the fifth year of a six-year, $43 million contract, is the primary designated hitter after poor play and repeated injuries playing the outfield.

Whether you endorse the Baseball Reference or Fangraphs algorithms, Burger has outplayed both Jimenez and Moncada this season. He’s at 0.8 and 0.9 WAR, respectively, over 60 games. Jimenez’s figures are 0.3 from both websites over 45 games. Moncada’s value number is -0.1 by Baseball Reference and 0.1 from Fangraphs over 38 games.

Had it not been for Moncada and Jimenez remaining injury-prone veterans, Burger would not have been on the field as often as he has been. He’s had his own little issues as well, spending a stint on the Injured List in May with a strained left oblique.

Burger has started 31 games at third base, 22 at designated hitter and one at first base. He’s a bat-first player, with a ranking of -3 Defensive Runs Saved at third from Fangraphs. But Moncada (-2 DRS) hasn’t been noticeably better in the field.

Burger batted sixth in the White Sox’s 4-1 victory over Boston on Sunday. The White Sox opened up some playing time for him when they decided to allow Jose Abreu to leave as a free agent in the off-season but he remains blocked behind Moncada and Jimenez.

It’s possible the 34-45 Sox could deal Moncada or Jimenez before the August 1 trade deadline. But they might have to take back a dubious contract from another team — or include a lot of money in the trade — to open a clear path for Burger.

Burger has plenty of room for improvement in the meantime. But at the big-league minimum salary of $720,000, he’s one of the few high-value players on an underachieving roster.