Rangers’ Jake Burger reflects on White Sox career: ‘Lot of fond memories here’

Rangers third baseman Jake Burger had a wide smile Friday greeting a few old companions at Rate Field.

The former White Sox, who they selected with the 11th pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, returned to the South Side for the first time since Chicago traded him to Miami two seasons ago.

“[It] feels good to be back,” Burger, 29, said. “It's only a few guys on the other side that I played with, but nonetheless being back here with the fans, they were awesome to us; to myself and my family. It's just really special for us."

Burger, a St. Louis native, lived out his dream being drafted by and playing for the Sox, the team he grew up cheering for. But his road to the majors had a couple of frustrating setbacks, tearing his achilles in a 2018 spring training game and re-tearing it a few months later.

“There's a lot of crazy parts of that career and I have a lot of fond memories here,” he said. “I think back to the walk off grand slam I hit against the Tigers. A couple of really fun baseball games I've gotten to play here. It's a lot of fond memories of Chicago, the city as a whole and then also wearing this uniform."

Burger smashed 34 home runs across parts of three seasons with the Sox between 2021-2023. He had 25 homers with the Sox in 2023 when they traded him mid-season to the Marlins. He was traded again to Texas this past offseason.

More familiar faces: Venable faces former team

White Sox manager Will Venable held off on any pre-game trash talk with his former coaching mates, including Rangers manager Bruce Bochy.

“We’ll wait for the game for that,” Venable said prior to Friday’s game.

Venable is in his first season as a big league manager, but he had a couple of valuable seasons as an associate manager to the four-time World Series winning manager Bochy the last two years. They won the championship together in Texas two seasons ago.

Bochy’s communication with his players and the inclusivity with his coaching staff stuck out the most to Venable, which he hopes to emulate with this Sox team.

“Just that every player and every situation is different and you have to change your leadership style to every one of those situations. I thought Boch did an amazing job of that. His demeanor change, his tone change, his timing change with different situations. Just his adaptability was impressive,” Venable said.

Kyle Teel continues his tear

Kyle Teel – the White Sox’ No. 2 prospect and No. 28 prospect in MLB – extended his hitting streak to 19 games and his on-base streak to 30 games with the Charlotte Knights Friday night.

Teel, 23, belted two home runs in the Knights' win Thursday – the first multi-homer game of his young career.

“Kyle Teel has really shown some progress here recently,” Sox general manager Chris Getz said Friday. “...We are having conversations about how best to handle [the catching situation].”

Fellow catcher Korey Lee is recovering well from a sprained ankle that landed him on the injured list April 10. He carried a .343/.410/.543 slash line in the minors entering play Friday.