The Cardinals keep stacking wins in August, and a big part of that push has come from Alec Burleson, the club’s final veteran leader and a player who’s giving St. Louis something to feel good about on both sides of the ball.
Burleson has long carried the reputation of being a reliable bat, and this season he’s taken that a step further. He leads the majors in RBIs, and his move into a full-time role at first base has put him in position to get back into award conversation after winning the Silver Slugger last year as a utility player. The transition to first came after the Cardinals moved Willson Contreras, and with that change came the end of a long stretch of strong defensive play at the position.
For most of the year, the numbers haven’t exactly matched what the eye test has been telling Cardinals fans. Defensive Runs Saved has Burleson 23rd among the 25 first basemen who have played at least 500 innings at first, a ranking that doesn’t sit right with people who’ve watched him day after day.
FanGraphs lists him at -5 in DRS, even though he owns a .993 fielding percentage and has started 14 double plays. That twin-killing total is second in baseball, trailing only Matt Olson, and Burleson has matched Olson’s fielding percentage while making just one more error.
Now there’s a new number working in Burleson’s favor. Statcast and Baseball Savant recently unveiled Receiving Outs Above Average, and Burleson sits atop the majors in that category for handling throws at first base. It’s a stat that gives more credit to the kind of work first basemen actually do - catching, reaching, and scooping throws that aren’t always easy to frame cleanly.
That matters in this Cardinals infield. Masyn Winn and JJ Wetherholt are two of the best defenders in baseball overall, and having a first baseman who can handle their throws cleanly is no small thing.
Burleson has given St. Louis exactly that, along with steady help for whichever third baseman is in the lineup.
As his offense keeps humming, Burleson is making sure he’s not just carrying value with the bat. With a metric now in place that better captures what he’s doing at first, he’s finally getting the defensive recognition his season has earned.
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