Alec Burleson has turned in one of the most productive seasons in baseball, and somehow it still isn’t getting nearly enough attention.
For the St. Louis Cardinals, the 27-year-old first baseman has gone from a strong performer to a player putting up numbers that demand a longer look.
After winning the first Silver Slugger Award of his career last season, Burleson has taken another step forward in 2026. Through 126 games, he is hitting .289/.354/.493 with an .847 OPS, 21 home runs, 92 RBIs, three stolen bases, 33 doubles, one triple and 71 runs scored.
He has also already reached a career-high 45 walks.
The production is not just impressive in a vacuum. Burleson leads the league in both RBIs and doubles, which gives his season even more weight.
Last year, he posted a .290/.343/.459 line with an .801 OPS, 18 home runs, 69 RBIs, five stolen bases, 39 walks, 26 doubles and two triples in 139 games. This year’s jump has been substantial, with a 46-point rise in OPS on top of the added power and run production.
What makes the season even more notable is how Burleson has handled a new full-time role. Before 2026, he moved around the diamond, spending time at first base, left field, right field and designated hitter. This season, after the Cardinals traded Willson Contreras to the Boston Red Sox, Burleson became the everyday first baseman and answered the call.
There was real chatter about whether he could replace Contreras at the position. Burleson has done exactly that.
Contreras has played in 115 games for Boston and is hitting .283/.393/.535 with a .929 OPS, 25 home runs, 74 RBIs, 63 runs scored and 21 doubles. Even with Contreras producing in Boston, Burleson has matched him where it matters for St.
Louis, leading in batting average, RBIs, runs scored and doubles.
Burleson has also stood out defensively in a way that backs up the offensive breakout. He has been the best first baseman in baseball in receiving OAA, and Baseball Savant’s newly introduced Receiving OAA metric shows him at the top among all MLB first basemen.
Still, the larger baseball conversation has centered elsewhere. The breakout of Jordan Walker and the rise of rookie JJ Wetherholt have taken some of the spotlight, even though Burleson has been delivering one of the franchise’s best seasons. That shouldn’t keep him in the background much longer.
Cardinals fans already know what he can do. The rest of the league is catching up.
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