4 Cardinals players who are dragging the team down this year

The St. Louis Cardinals have struggled during the season's first month, and the fan frustrations are starting to boil over into anger towards the organization as a whole. Even with preseason announcements that this season would be a transition year, it is still tough to see a Cardinal team that is lacking competitiveness this early in the year. Even though the majority of the roster returned after an 83-win season last year, the team needed some big steps forward from some key players while also relying on repeat seasons from others.

To this point, the Cardinals sit fourth in the NL Central and are currently 2-11 on the road. At least four of those road losses can be pinned solely on the bullpen, while others are some combination of lack of timely hitting or one bad inning. Either way, though, the sweep of the Twins to start the season seems like ages ago, and the team is starting to look more like the .500 at best team that they were expected to be. If you were expecting to see manager Oli Marmol's name in the blame section, look elsewhere, because I am in the camp that he is doing the best with what he was given by the front office, and his most recent comments about the bullpen should help fans realize that.

These players have to hold some blame for the Cardinals struggles to start the season

Alec Burleson

Coming into the year, it was fair to understand that Alec Burleson should get the first crack at becoming the everyday designated hitter, or at least the main DH on the strong side of a platoon with the ability to fill in at first base when needed. His outfield play, while improved, was still below average and not needed, especially as the Cardinals had defensively solid outfielders in Lars Nootbaar, Victor Scott II, Michael Siani, and the improving Jordan Walker (more on him later, unfortunately).

In 2024, Burleson was a quality major league hitter, hitting .269 with 21 homers and a team-leading 78 RBIs, which was good for a 106 WRC+, putting him just above league-average with the bat. He has always profiled as a bat-first player, but for a guy his size, the hope was that his power would also develop into a quality part of his game. He looked to be on the way to becoming that solid offensive contributor when he hit .331 with 20 homers in Memphis in 2022, but his home run progression has hit a standstill since moving up the organizational ladder.

Since becoming a full-time part of the team in 2023, Burleson has totaled 29 homers and 43 doubles in 938 at-bats, which is good for a .704 OPS, at or below average for the rest of the major leagues. The big lefty has been able to consistently put the ball in play and has shown great plate coverage, but his swing decisions are not always the best. While his strikeout rate is among the game's best, his chase and walk rates are well below league-average. This means that he is extremely aggressive early in the count and swinging at pitches that, even though he can put the bat on the ball, his contact is mediocre. This is evidenced by his bottom-five percentile rankings in expected slugging percentage and barrel rates, and his 34% hard-hit rate is only better than 22% of the league. None of those numbers are ideal for a designated hitter, and especially not one who has all but 13 at-bats this year out of the five spot in the lineup.

The struggles continue for Burleson with runners in scoring position, who should expect to see plenty of those opportunities with where he hits in the order. He currently has the fourth-most at-bats on the team in these spots, but his six RBIs are the third-lowest on the team, behind guys like Pedro Pages (10 RBIs), Ivan Herrera (8), and Thomas Saggese (7), who have all knocked in more runs with significantly fewer chances. In addition to the lack of run production, his OPS is .649, good for ninth on the team.

In order to remain a productive big league hitter, Burleson is going to have to change his approach at the plate and may even have to begin selling out for extra-base hits. In 2025, Burly is hitting a decent .276 but only has three extra-base hits, all doubles, which is good for a .645 OPS, not ideal numbers for a power spot in the order from your designated hitter. Because of these struggles, I have begun to throw the idea around that Saggese or Luken Baker should be getting more at-bats in that spot, even if it is against right-handed pitchers.