Rangers corner infielder Jake Burger had a big smile Friday when greeting a few old buddies at Rate Field.
The former White Sox player, whom they selected with the 11th pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, returned to the South Side for the first time since being traded to the Marlins 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 of being drafted by and playing for the Sox, whom he grew up cheering for. But his road to the majors featured a couple of frustrating setbacks. He tore his Achilles in a spring-training game in 2018 and tore it again 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 hit 34 home runs across parts of three seasons with the Sox from 2021 to 2023. He had 25 homers with the Sox in 2023, when they traded him in the middle of the season to Miami. He was traded to the Rangers this past offseason.
Venable faces former team
Sox manager Will Venable held off on any pregame trash talk with his former coaching mates and Rangers manager Bruce Bochy.
“We’ll wait for the game for that,” Venable said before the game Friday.
Venable is off to a rough start in his first season as a big-league skipper, guiding the Sox to a 15-35 record through 50 games.
But he’s leaning on a couple of valuable seasons as an associate manager under Bochy, who has won four World Series. They won a World Series 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, and he hopes to emulate that approach with the Sox.
“Just that every player and every situation is different,’’ Venable said, ‘‘and you have to change your leadership style to every one of those situations. I thought Bochy did an amazing job of that — his demeanor change, his tone change, his timing change with different situations. Just his adaptability was impressive.’’
Teel continues his tear
Kyle Teel, the Sox’ No. 2 prospect and the No. 28 prospect overall, extended his hitting streak to 19 games and his on-base streak to 30 games with Triple-A Charlotte on Friday night.
Teel, 23, belted two home runs in the Knights’ victory Thursday — the first multihomer game of his pro career.
“Kyle Teel has really shown some progress here recently,” Sox general manager Chris Getz said. “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 had a .343/.410/.543 slash line in the minors entering play Friday.