White Sox: Jake Burger’s wife makes the coaching staff look bad

Chicago White Sox slugger Jake Burger has been slumping at the plate recently. Burger’s slash line over the last 30 days is .156/.221/.417 with a .638 OPS. He was red-hot in May when hit .297 with a .547 slugging percentage.

He batted .146 in June with a .393 slugging percentage. That June slump sunk any All-Star hopes Burger had. On June 8th, he was hitting .272 with a .955 OPS. His numbers have dropped to .220 with a .793 OPS.

Jake snapped out of his slump yesterday when he went 2-for-4 with a home run.

The Chicago White Sox needed Jake Burger to break his slump badly.

So, who helped Jake Burger get back on track? It was not the Chicago White Sox coaches. Instead, Burger credits his wife with helping make an adjustment at the plate.

It was not manager Pedro Grifol who diagnosed the problem. It was not hitting coach Jose Castro or assistant hitting coach Chris Johnson who fixed Burger.

Instead, it was Burger’s better half, Ashlyn Burger, who broke down the tape and helped Jake get back to mashing the ball.

Ashlyn has been great at supporting her husband, especially after all that Jake went through just to get to the Majors.

Chicago White Sox fans are lucky that she is willing to help him out because it looks like the Sox coaching staff is not.

To be fair, sometimes your better half can see something in you that others do not. It is not like Castro and Johnson were not trying to help Burger get out of his June slide–at least, I hope.

The problem is this example is just the latest situation where someone from outside the organization has found a way to fix a player’s issue at the plate.

Luis Robert Jr’s personal trainer helped him get back on track offensively after Robert Jr. struggled to start the season. Now Luis is on his way to his first All-Star Game.

These are two minor instances that in the grand scheme of things and will not determine if Grifol’s administration will be a failure.

It still does not look good in the present since the Chicago White Sox completely overhauled their hitting coaching staff in the offseason.

Former hitting coach Frank Menechino bore the brunt of Sox fans’ frustrations with the team’s lack of power last season.

Castro and Johnson have gotten more power out of the lineup. Burger has 18 bombs and Robert Jr. has 24 homers. Andrew Vaughn led the team last year in the long ball with 17 home runs.

Still, a personal trainer and a player’s wife suggesting simple adjustments does not bring confidence that the current hitting coaches are any better than Menechino.

It does not help that Tim Anderson has gone from an AL batting champion to one of the worst hitters in the game.

Although, injuries are a big reason for that. Hey, maybe Ashlyn Burger can break down his tape and make a simple suggestion to get him back on track.