6 questions the St. Louis Cardinals must answer in 2025

2. How will Alec Burleson get the at-bats he deserves with Nolan Gorman also receiving the playing time he was promised?

Whether this says more about the 2024 Cardinals or Alec Burleson's ability with the bat, the fact remains true: Burleson is a quality Major League hitter. Last season, he led the team with 78 RBIs and was second in homers behind former MVP Paul Goldschmidt. Burleson's season was made up of two completely different halves. The lefty had 17 homers and 53 RBIs at the All-Star Break and was accompanied by an encouraging batting average (.288) and OPS (.814). The second half, however, was unkind, as he was sapped of all power, putting up a .626 OPS and only 10 extra-base hits. What remained consistent was his ability to put the ball in play. Burleson only struck out 12.8% of the time and went down on strikes just 76 times throughout the year while remaining above league average in expected batting average, hard-hit percentage, and squared-up rate. Where Burleson needs to show improvement, though, is in his ability to hit off of left-handed pitchers and be more patient for his pitch at the plate.

Against lefties, Burleson hit .195 with three homers, and these struggles moved him from an everyday starter to a strict platoon bat. It is interesting to note that in 2024, Burleson had a higher average against southpaws, albeit in a limited sample size. During his breakout year in the minors in 2022, Burly hit an outstanding .325 against lefties and showed decent power with a .437 OPS against them. While the expected DH handles the bat well, he could see an improvement in his overall numbers if he were more patient at the plate. Burleson has a below-average walk rate and a high chase rate in his career and that extends to his time in the minors. If he can stand to be a little more patient and attack pitches in the zone, Burleson could see his power numbers increase without too much of a detriment to his strikeout numbers.

Speaking of strikeouts, Nolan Gorman enters into quite a predicament in 2025 after the final roster was announced. When Nolan Arenado was expected to be traded, Gorman planned to shift over to third base and take advantage of his natural position and the team planning to give him 500 at-bats to prove himself. This expected runway gave him early accolades as a breakout hitter to watch since he flashed 30-home run power and will be playing this season at 25 years old. When Arenado ended up staying put, this meant Gorman was now going back to second base, the position where he's made the majority of his MLB appearances since his debut season and has shown a vast improvement defensively.

Gorman's issue has always been his ability to put the ball in play, striking out close to or above 30% of the time every year since turning professional, including an astounding 37.6% rate in 2024. Even with those numbers, Gorman has shown power potential with 27 homers during the 2023 season and was graded with 70-grade future raw power as a prospect.

Gorman showed improvements during a short spring training but now may be looking at an awkward share of at-bats with Burleson. The team's decision to keep Victor Scott II on the roster and name him the everyday center fielder has a trickle-down effect that reaches down to the other two players. If the Cardinals want to hold true to their 500 at-bat promise, Gorman will have to play every day either at second base or as the designated hitter. Since Gorm and Burly are both lefties, there is no real platoon option for them, and the latter is defensively limited in a crowded outfield, so his at-bats were expected to be as the everyday DH. If Gorman were to play second, that would put Brendan Donovan into a rover role since Lars Nootbaar will be in left and Jordan Walker was promised the same opportunity as Gorman. Further down the roster, VSII's addition and the other necessary roster finagling soaks up every other at-bat from Luken Baker, whose great spring earned him a spot on the 26-man configuration.

Manager Oli Marmol is going to have to do plenty of juggling in 2025 if the team is truly going to get an answer on the offensive potential of Gorman and Burleson. Maybe the runway is not going to be as long as we originally anticipated.