The Cardinals have one of those rare homegrown pieces every organization hopes to find: a player who comes up through the system, keeps adding to his game, and ends up looking like part of the core.
Alec Burleson is there now. The 27-year-old former second-round pick reached the majors in 2022 and has moved through several roles along the way, going from bench bat to versatile fill-in to full-time first baseman.
St. Louis has handed him the job at a spot once occupied by Willson Contreras and Paul Goldschmidt, and he’s handled it like a player who belongs there.
On Thursday, Burleson entered the day leading the league with 112 RBIs, then tacked on another by launching his 24th home run of the season off Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes. That kind of production is exactly why the Cardinals should be moving quickly if they want to keep him around beyond his current club control.
Burleson told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he would be receptive to a longer deal.
"I’m open to it, and I’ll be all ears if they want to come to me and try and see what happens,” Burleson told Goold. “I love St.
Louis. The family loves St.
Louis. I like what is going on here as far as where this is headed, and I think we’ve got an opportunity to do a lot of fun things in the near future."
That’s the kind of quote front offices love to hear, and the Cardinals have every reason to listen. Burleson won a Silver Slugger Award last year and has a real chance to do it again at first base.
He’s also done enough with the glove to put himself in the Gold Glove conversation this season. At this point, he looks like one of the better two-way first basemen in the game.
And then there’s the Skenes piece, which only adds to the appeal. Burleson has torched the Pirates ace so far, and after Thursday’s homer, his line against Skenes sat at .429/.455/.619. His updated numbers against the right-hander came with a 1.074 OPS, while his RBI total climbed to 113.
That’s the sort of player you want lined up in your own dugout when a pitcher like Skenes is across the diamond for years to come. St. Louis has found a star in Burleson, and if the Cardinals are serious about building around their own talent, this is the kind of extension they should be working on now.
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