Chicago White Sox draft Missouri State 3B Jake Burger at No. 11
Monday was draft day, and you know what that means.
Bust out the comps.
After the Chicago White Sox picked Jake Burger - a slugging third baseman from Missouri State University - at No. 11 overall, the right-handed hitter was quickly compared to current Sox third baseman Todd Frazier.
Nick Hostetler, the White Sox's director of amateur scouting, had his own comp for Burger.
"For me, more a Gary Gaetti type of guy," Hostetler said. "High-energy type of guy, can really swing the bat. He's an offense-first guy. It's big, big raw power. We're looking at 25-30 type home run power here."
In a 20-year career with the Twins, Angels, Royals, Cardinals, Cubs and Red Sox, Gaetti hit 360 home runs.
Burger hit 22 homers for Missouri State while batting .328 as a junior this season, and he batted .339 with 48 doubles, 47 home runs and 179 RBI in his three years with the Bears.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder is from Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. But the 21-year-old infielder was never a Cardinals fan.
Burger is a White Sox fan, thanks to Paul Konerko.
"It's unbelievable," Burger said. "I grew up watching Paul Konerko and tried to emulate his game. There are no words to describe how pumped I am and excited I am for this opportunity. There are just no words.
"I grew up and just never really liked the Cardinals. I was playing hockey growing up and was always up in Chicago and kind of fell in love with the city. It was easy to root for the White Sox at the time. Paul Konerko was going up, and it was a fun time. It was tough because I wasn't rooting for the Cardinals, but the people in St. Louis didn't kill me too much because I wasn't rooting for the Cubs."
Burger is eventually going to be Burger, and the Sox are thrilled to have him.
"Jake was the guy we identified early in the process, back with Team USA, as being the guy we felt had the best right-handed power in the country," Hostetler said. "Last year, we feel like we added the best left-handed power in the country (top pick Zack Collins) and this year we added the best right-handed power in the country.
"We identified Jake early and knew that he was the guy that hit-wise was exactly what we wanted to do as an organization."
Konerko ranks second in White Sox history with 432 home runs.
"I think I modeled more of my mechanical side off of (Konerko)," Burger said. "As a player, I'm obviously known for my power and the ability to drive the ball out to all parts of the field. But I'm more just a consistent guy, too. I'm hitting for average with the home runs as well."
Burger struck out only 38 times in 247 at-bats this season.
"Huge," Hostetler said. "It's huge. It's the organizational philosophy that (general manager) Rick (Hahn) set forward when he took over as what he wanted to do. He wanted to get guys that got on base, wanted high OBP guys, and we are following through with that plan."