Chris Young’s patience finally snapped. The Texas Rangers GM made his first major roster shakeup of the season Thursday, sending first baseman Jake Burger down to Triple-A Round Rock and promoting minor league standout Blaine Crim.
The move comes as the defending champs continue to sputter offensively, ranking near the bottom of MLB in runs per game and dropping another lifeless effort in a 3-0 loss to the A’s.
Burger, one of Young’s marquee offseason acquisitions, has been a non-factor at the plate. The former Marlin is hitting just .190 with a .561 OPS and has looked lost for weeks.
He was expected to bring serious power to the middle of the lineup after clubbing 29 home runs last year. Instead, he’s become an anchor dragging down a team still searching for any kind of spark.
The Rangers traded three prospects to Miami in December to land Burger, who was slotted in to replace Nathaniel Lowe at first base. Now, just 30 games into the season, Burger is out — at least temporarily. One league source told The Athletic the plan is for Burger to “reset” and return at some point, but that timing remains unclear.
Rangers Prospect Blaine Crim Gets His Shot
Enter Blaine Crim, a 27-year-old slugger who’s done nothing but rake at Triple-A this season. Crim is hitting .313 with seven homers, 25 RBIs, and a .930 OPS in 28 games for Round Rock.
He’s not a top prospect by traditional standards — a 19th-round pick in 2019, Crim has aged out of most prospect lists — but the man can hit, and the Rangers are desperate for offense.
Manager Bruce Bochy has already started tinkering with his lineup in recent days, moving Marcus Semien out of the leadoff spot and plugging Kevin Pillar in for Leody Taveras in center. But nothing has worked. Texas was shut out at home Thursday, again looking lifeless against a mediocre Oakland squad.
Young hinted earlier in the week that changes could be coming. “We have guys going well at Triple A who, if things don’t improve, we obviously will have to consider,” he told the Dallas Morning News. “But, at the same time, I believe in this group and their baseball cards… But it’s up to them to do that.”
On Thursday, he decided he was done waiting.
As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports, “Young indicated Tuesday that a shakeup might be imminent, telling the Dallas Morning News, ‘I’m edgy and rightfully so.’”
The shakeup is here. Now we’ll see if Crim can do what Burger couldn’t — wake up a lineup that’s been largely asleep since Opening Day.
