Off zero sleep, Jake Burger homered in his 1st game following his 4-month-old daughter’s open heart surgery Burger was at a Nashville hospital until 11PM, caught a flight at 5AM, and reported to camp at 7:45AM. Hours later he crushed this 408’ HR. pic.twitter.com/e2y3e7y6v2

Days after Jake Burger's 4-month-old daughter, Penelope, underwent open-heart surgery, the Texas Rangers first baseman hit a 408-foot home run during an 8-0 spring training win over the Seattle Mariners.

Jake Burger spent the previous three days of spring training inside Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, some 1,700 miles from the Texas Rangers’ complex, where his 4-month-old daughter Penelope underwent open heart surgery.

Jake Burger hit his first home run as a member of the Texas Rangers on Thursday. During the fifth inning of the Rangers Spring Training game against the Seattle Mariners, Burger, who started at DH, took Blas Castano deep with two outs and a runner on first.

Burger, in his debut game at first as a Texas Ranger in Friday’s Cactus League exhibition vs. the Kansas City Royals, picked the ground ball with ease, turned to his right and rifled a throw to shortstop Corey Seager to turn an inning-ending double play in the bottom of the first. It looked easy peasy.

Instead of roaming the back fields in Surprise this week, Rangers infielder Jake Burger returned to his home in Nashville to spend necessary time with his family. Burger’s four-month-old daughter Penelope had successful open heart surgery on Feb.