Alec Burleson

Alec Burleson

26-Year-Old OutfielderOF
St. Louis Cardinals
2025 Fantasy Outlook
The Cardinals had disappointments up and down their lineup last season, but Burleson was a bright spot, leading the team with 78 RBI and finishing one off the club lead with his 21 home runs. Seventeen of those long balls came before the All-Star break, as Burleson trailed off badly in the second half, particularly in September. He also had just a .514 OPS against left-handed pitching and rarely played versus southpaws down the stretch, so a strong-side platoon in 2025 appears likely. A .292/.341/.464 line against righties makes Burleson well suited for such a role, and a 12.8 percent strikeout rate and above-average batted-ball metrics means he's a good bet for batting average. Too many grounders and Busch Stadium as his home park could make him a merely adequate power source, however. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#234
ADP
$Signed a one-year contract with the Cardinals in March of 2024.
In line to DH Opening Day
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
March 24, 2025
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said Monday that he plans to start Burleson at designated hitter and bat him fifth Opening Day against Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
ANALYSIS
It's the spot Burleson is in for Monday's exhibition game versus Triple-A Memphis in what Marmol indicated is a preview of his Opening Day lineup. While Burleson is slated to serve as the primary DH against right-handed pitching, he will likely have to yield the spot to Nolan Gorman on occasion.
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Batting Stats
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2025
2024
2023
2022
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2024 MLB Game Log
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2023 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
3/27987654321
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
+44%
OPS vs RHP
2025
 
 
-100%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+56%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+15%
OPS vs RHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023vs Left .527 170 18 3 18 2 .205 .241 .286
Since 2023vs Right .758 775 88 26 96 10 .271 .323 .435
2025vs Left .000 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
2025vs Right .452 7 1 0 0 0 .167 .286 .167
2024vs Left .514 140 15 3 12 2 .195 .229 .286
2024vs Right .804 453 56 18 66 7 .292 .341 .464
2023vs Left .607 29 3 0 6 0 .259 .310 .296
2023vs Right .699 315 31 8 30 3 .243 .299 .399
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
+19%
OPS at Home
2025
 
 
-100%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+11%
OPS at Home
2023
 
 
+38%
OPS at Home
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023Home .777 476 63 14 57 8 .284 .335 .443
Since 2023Away .654 469 43 15 57 4 .233 .282 .372
2025Home .393 8 1 0 0 0 .143 .250 .143
2025Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024Home .773 301 41 9 36 6 .291 .340 .433
2024Away .696 292 30 12 42 3 .246 .288 .408
2023Home .803 167 21 5 21 2 .279 .329 .474
2023Away .583 177 13 3 15 1 .211 .273 .311
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Alec Burleson compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.00
 
BB Rate
0.0%
 
K Rate
0.0%
 
BABIP
.250
 
ISO
.000
 
AVG
.250
 
OBP
.250
 
SLG
.250
 
OPS
.500
 
wOBA
.223
 
Exit Velocity
96.8 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
50.0%
 
Barrels/PA
0.0%
 
Expected BA
.489
 
Expected SLG
.572
 
Sprint Speed
0.0 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
50.0%
 
Line Drive %
25.0%
 
Fly Ball %
25.0%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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26 days ago
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
It didn't show up much in his bottom-line stats, but Burleson did do some interesting things at the plate last season with the Cardinals during his first extended look in the majors. Chief among them was an elite contact ability with a strikeout rate of just 13 percent, and he also impacted the ball pretty well with a 41 percent hard-hit rate. Burleson doesn't draw walks and offers virtually no defensive value, so his bat will need to carry him. The 25-year-old could become interesting with regular starts, but St. Louis' outfield and designated hitter situation remains crowded even after the trade of Tyler O'Neill.
Burleson, a 24-year-old with nothing left to prove as a hitter in the minors and nowhere to fit defensively in the majors, has been dangled as a secondary piece in many of the Cardinals' trade talks (Juan Soto, Sean Murphy, etc...), but so far he appears to be staying put. It's unfortunate, as Burleson might be a good enough hitter (potential for a high average and 20-homer pop) to be an everyday left fielder or designated hitter for a second-division club. On this Cardinals roster, however, he is a lefty bench bat who will wait for an injury or underperformance to open up more plate appearances.
More Fantasy News
Will split reps at first base/DH
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
March 24, 2025
Burleson is in line to split playing time at first base and designated hitter with Willson Contreras, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
ANALYSIS
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Cranks third spring training homer
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
March 19, 2025
Burleson popped a solo home run -- his third of the spring -- in Wednesday's Grapefruit League tilt versus the Nationals.
ANALYSIS
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Could face playing time squeeze
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
March 11, 2025
Burleson might see his playing time impacted if the Cardinals elect to start Lars Nootbaar in left field and Michael Siani or Victor Scott in center field, Katie Woo of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
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Won't play outfield this spring
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
March 6, 2025
Burleson is not expected to be used in the outfield this spring, Daniel Guerrero of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
ANALYSIS
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Drives in three in win
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
September 30, 2024
Burleson went 2-for-4 with a walk and three RBI in Sunday's 6-1 win over the Giants.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Could get playing time bump
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
April 24, 2024
Outfielder Jordan Walker was optioned to Triple-A Memphis on Wednesday, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat, which could open up playing time for Burleson.
ANALYSIS
Burleson had a regular role to begin the season but has started just two of 11 games since Lars Nootbaar returned from two fractured ribs. Burleson has struggled at the plate with a .255/.296/.294 slash line in 54 plate appearances, so he likely won't come close to having an everyday role. Backup catcher Ivan Herrera should also see increased chances with Walker sent down.
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