Texas Rangers injury updates: Jake Burger, Josh Sborz, Chris Martin

While the Texas Rangers are currently on the right side of injuries right now, they still have a handful of arms they are waiting on to return to the active roster at the back half of the year.

Coming into the week 58-55 and just 4.5 games back of Houston in the American League West, Texas will need all the help they can to get over the hump and back into the postseason.

The players returning from injuries will be a much needed boost as they continue that hunt.

Jake Burger

Jake Burger is in the middle of another IL stint on the season after suffering a quad injury in the series against the Astros right before the All-Star Break. The injury led to the signing of Rowdy Tellez to a minor league contract and a platoon of Tellez and Ezequiel Duran as the everyday first baseman.

However, the 29-year-old Missouri native is nearing a return after being sent on a rehab assignment in Double-A Frisco this past weekend. He immediately got to work, doubling down the right field line in his first at-bat.

There's no word on exactly when Burger will reunite with the Rangers in the big leagues but Texas is about to start a six-game home stand against the Yankees and Phillies. To make an educated guess, he will find a way to get activated sometime this week.

Chris Martin

Martin, 39, is a bit further away from retuning that Burger is after he left the July 20 game against Detroit with a left calf strain. At the time he was placed on the IL, it was said he would miss somewhere between 4-6 weeks.

It is approaching three weeks since then so we aren't even at the minimum weeks he's expected to be out. I am sure Texas is counting down the days where he could return but thanks to the additions of Danny Coulombe and Phil Maton at the deadline, it doesn't seem like too big of a miss.

Josh Sborz

For the right-handed Josh Sborz, it is sort of uncertain when he will make his 2025 season debut. As mentioned, Maton and Coulombe give the team added depth to the bullpen, and it seems Texas is in no rush to get Sborz back.

The 31-year-old underwent shoulder surgery last November and returned to game action on July 12 via rehab assignment at Triple-A Round Rock. In 7 rehab appearances, Sborz has a 3.68 ERA with 5 walks, 5 strikeouts and a .321 batting average against. The most worrisome is that his fastball has been topping out at around 92 mph.

During the 2023 season his fastball velo averaged 96.1 mph and last season it averaged 95.1 mph. So the 92 mph fastball velo is a little discouraging to see early on. A shoulder injury does take good reps to return to a more normal status.