4 Cardinals players it is already fair to be worried about

Alec Burleson

When it became clear that Nolan Arenado was going to be a Cardinal for at least the near future, the club knew it was going to have to make some tough decisions regarding the playing time of various names on their roster. Many believed that Alec Burleson would be the odd man out of the everyday lineup (barring Lars Nootbaar playing in center field), but instead, it was Nolan Gorman who started the year on the bench for the Cardinals.

Burleson has been the Cardinals' primary DH against right-handed pitching while filling in at first base as needed as well. Last year, Burleson posted a 125 wRC+ against right-handed pitching and a 125 wRC+ as a whole during the first half for St. Louis. He really struggled against lefties all year long, but the damage he could do against righties was a real asset to the team. He squared up the baseball almost the best in baseball and struck out just 12.8% of the time, and all of his expected numbers looked great for the second year in a row.

In 2025 though, those expected numbers have taken a major dip. He's yet to barrel a single baseball, he's not hitting the ball particularly hard, and the power has been zapped from his bat. He has yet to hit a home run this year, and that's coming off a second half where he hit just four home runs in 231 plate appearances. This is a far cry in production from the guy who slugged 17 home runs in his first 340 plate appearances in 2024.

If Burleson can't find that power stroke consistently again, it is going to be very difficult for him to produce enough offensively to warrant playing time over Thomas Saggese or allowing Gorman another shot at consistent time. Burleson is a negative defensively in the outfield, and while he's fine at first base, you need more offense at that position to be a viable player.

Burleson's ability as a pure hitter gives me confidence that things will sort out eventually. Is he going to be able to be who he was in the first half last year? I'm not sure. But I also don't see him as a well below average hitter for the long-haul either.

We've already seen some injuries sort out playing time a bit, but once Masyn Winn is back here in the next few days, the Cardinals are going to have some difficult decisions to make on a daily basis. Saggese has been far too productive and useful to send down to Memphis, and with the way he is hitting so far, it'll be difficult to have Burleson and Gorman playing over him consistently. But at the same time, we know what those two can do when they are right at the plate.

It is fair to be worried about what we've seen from Burleson since the second half of 2024, and while I do think we'll see him get things back on track soon, he may see diminished playing time in the meantime.