White Sox fall to Mariners 3-2; Burger making most of opportunity

You have to sift through a lot of negatives to get to White Sox positives this season.

Jake Burger is definitely in the latter category.

Not too long ago, it looked like his career was over. Now, it's taking off.

"It's been a lot of fun," Burger said. "Any way I can contribute and help the team, that's huge for me. That's what I want to do. It's not about individual accolades. It's about helping the team win."

Even with his booming bat finally on regular display, Burger hasn't been able to help the Sox win as many games as expected through the first three months of the season.

In the opener of a three-game series Friday night at Seattle, the White Sox lost to the Mariners 3-2.

The Sox took a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning on Gavin Sheets' home run and Andrew Benintendi's first homer of the year put the White Sox in front 2-1 in the sixth.

Seattle's Teoscar Hernandez snapped a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning with a home run off Tanner Banks.

The Sox, who placed starter Mike Clevinger (biceps) on the injured list before the game, managed only 5 hits.

Michael Kopech started against the Mariners and allowed 1 run on 6 hits and 6 walks in 4⅓ innings while throwing 102 pitches.

Individually, Burger's made an impact.

"He's a major-league hitter," manager Pedro Grifol said. "He's picked us up big time."

Burger, the White Sox's first-round draft pick in 2017, started the year at Class AAA Charlotte.

He joined the Sox a week into the season and has locked up a roster spot after bouncing back and forth between the minors and majors the past two years.

Spending the majority of his first 51 games with the White Sox at designated hitter, Burger is going to get the bulk of his upcoming playing time at third base after Yoan Moncada landed on the injured list Thursday with lower back soreness.

He's not as good as Moncada on the defensive side, but Burger has been one of the few sparks in a Sox offense that disappears for lengthy stretches.

Heading into Friday's play, Burger ranked second on the White Sox - and sixth in the American League - with 16 home runs. He delivered that power in only 179 plate appearances.

The affable St. Louis native hit a pair of homers in Wednesday's 8-4 win over the Dodgers and he added a solo shot in Thursday night's 5-4 loss to Los Angeles in 11 innings.

Burger was a premier home run hitter during his collegiate days at Missouri State, but his professional career got off to a nightmarish start.

In training camp with the Sox in the spring of 2018, Burger ruptured his left Achilles tendon in a Cactus League game and re-ruptured the tendon in May. The injury sidelined him the entire season, and Burger missed all of 2019 with a bruised left heel.

In 2020, COVID-19 wiped out the minor-league season. Burger made his comeback playing in the CarShield Collegiate League outside of St. Louis and spent most of the next year with Charlotte while playing 15 games with the White Sox in July.

Missing three straight seasons was hard on Burger, who openly talked about his battle with depression during all of the down time,

Sox player development director Chris Getz stayed in frequent touch with Burger through all of the dark days.

More than most, Getz is thrilled by what Burger has become.

"Every player's route to the major leagues is different," Getz said. "His was perhaps more unique than others based on the adversity he's been faced with from an injury standpoint and questioning whether he would be able to continue to play and his dream of getting to the big leagues. With the layoff that he had, and certainly the physical and mental struggles he had to deal with, it only made him stronger."