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SPRINGFIELD — In another life, a handful of the Missouri State baseball team would have played hockey.
A few did, in their younger days. An online EA Sports NHL league still exists with alumni like Tate Matheny, who played in high school, and Joey Hawkins, a native of Ontario.
For Jake Burger, growing up in St. Louis meant hockey for half of the year and baseball the rest of the time.
He still uses “Chelsea Dagger” as his walk-up song, the tune played after every Chicago Blackhawks home goal, and not exactly the most universally-accepted choice in the Gateway City.
Even while sharing a ballpark with a St. Louis Cardinals affiliate, Burger’s accomplishments as a Bear should earn him a pardon from local fans.
Since coming to Springfield after a stellar career at CBC High School, the third baseman has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with soon-to-be Major League draft picks.
As a freshman at Missouri State in 2015, he looked like anything but a first-year player.
“The day he got here, he played like a veteran,” head coach Keith Guttin said. “You have leadership, baseball-savvy instincts. Going away and playing internationally this summer only adds to the maturity he brings to the team.”
Through bouncing around the order, including the nine-hole, he led the Bears in hits and batting average as they finished one game shy of the 2015 College World Series.
Last season, Burger nearly won the Missouri Valley Conference Triple Crown with a campaign that yielded a .349 batting average, 82 hits, and 72 RBI. He also finished second in the nation in home runs (21) while winning the league’s Defensive Player of the Year Award.
He points to assistant coaches Nate Thompson and Matt Lawson as well as his father, also an assistant coach at CBC High School, for helping him improve his plate appearances.
It was immediately on display to start the 2017 season.
First at-bat against Rhode Island: walk.
Second at-bat: walk (get used to seeing that).
Fourth at-bat: homer to left center.
The junior is slightly more exposed in the heart of the order with last seaaon’s NCAA home run leader, Spencer Johnson, no longer backing him up in the four-spot. Powerful battery mates have always been Burger’s friend. Johnson blasted three more than Burger, who compared their contest to that of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in the 1998 Major League season.
Burger has already wrestled the team lead away from Jeremy Eierman this year and kept pace at two back of the national lead with seven home runs. He launched a pair to go with a career-high five RBI in a win at Minnesota on Sunday.
“I know who I am and what type of hitter I am. I swing at the right pitches,” he said.
Part of losing your anonymity and means having trouble keeping track of your stockpile of preseason awards. He made the preseason All-America list, the Golden Spikes Award Watch List, and is the No. 30 draft eligible prospect according to MLB.com.
The excerpt pointed out how Burger may not be the most graceful player, but gets the job done, prompting one scout to compare him to Hunter Pence of the San Francisco Giants.
“Getting all these accolades is cool, but that’s all preseason stuff,” he said. “None of that matters until the end of the season.”
Burger has had little trouble filling the hours to keep out all that noise, including playing overseas with the USA Collegiate National Team this summer. After trips to Taiwan, Japan, and Cuba, the clubhouse back in Springfield feels more like home, along with teammates who playfully keep him in check.
“The chemistry of this team matches the one of 2015. You’ve got three guys in the Top 30 returning in the infield. The cohesion is definitely there.”
In two years and some change, Burger has already put together one of the best careers in the history of Missouri State baseball. There is a banner that hangs in the Bill Rowe Training Facility by Hammons Field that reads “Big League Bears” featuring a collage of pro players that have come through the program.
By all rights, Burger should find his likeness on that banner soon.
That road could begin after this season in the MLB Draft in June, but there is far too much to get done while he’s still in Maroon.
Putting his talents back on a national stage is a good place to start.
“It’s always in the back of your head. There’s no way to get around it. It’s a real thing, but it’s all jazz and nothing I’m going to put too much emphasis on.”
“(2015) is something we want to repeat. We have a lot of guys who were on that team and want to have that feeling again, go one game further, and see where it takes us.”
