Cardinals' manager sees underrated young slugger as indispensable to team's success

The St. Louis Cardinals have a month to push towards the postseason while also evaluating their current roster pieces. That evaluation period might be nearing the end for one of the Cardinals' left-handed outfielders, as Alec Burleson appears to have played his way into a long-term roster spot.

Manager Oli Marmol believes Alec Burleson is an indispensable piece for the Cardinals' future.

Jim Bowden of The Athletic conducted a survey that he has done around this time in previous seasons to determine how playoff competitors view their current rosters. This season, he asked front-office executives and managers to find their underrated but necessary player on their roster, and Cardinals manager Oli Marmol was the one to provide the answer to Bowden.

While the majority of the Cardinals' roster has underwhelmed offensively, Alec Burleson has transformed his approach to become a top-30 hitter in the National League based on his WRC+, which checks in at 120, meaning his offense is 20% better than average. At the start of the season, I was critical of Burleson's offensive profile, as he was a contact-oriented hitter who swung at everything but was among the top of the league in terms of strikeout rate. Through 410 at-bats in the 2025 season, Burleson is putting up career highs in almost every offensive category and has the potential to surpass his high of 21 homers he set last season.

The change in his approach is impressive, as he's been able to hit the ball harder while swinging at fewer pitches. His strikeout rate has hardly taken a hit by his new plate discipline, as it has increased to a still well-above league average13.5%, and his walk rate has skyrocketed closer to the mean with a career-best 7.3%. Last season, Burleson totaled 41 extra-base hits in 152 games. In 35 fewer games so far, the lefty has already totaled 36 extra-base hits and is just two walks behind last year's total. His next double will set a new career high, and he has added a triple and five stolen bases to his stat sheet.

Beyond the offensive side, Burly has really worked on his outfield defense to find a way to become an everyday option for Marmol. The hard work has paid off. Even though he is still rated as a below-average outfielder by measure of Fielding Run Value and Outs Above Average, the eye test and some other results point to him being more than capable of handling a corner outfield spot. These adjustments have not gone unnoticed, as Bowden quotes Marmol's praise of the 26-year-old, saying, “He continues to develop as a solid big-league hitter. He has improved his defense, which has allowed for more at-bats in left field and at first base. His ability to post every day has made him a key part of this lineup.”

Overall, Alec Burleson's 2025 season has been impressive. Not just because of the results, but because of his apparent openness to trying new things. It is not clear if this is hitting coach Brant Brown's doing or some combination of Brown and Burly realizing that his approach needed a little tweaking. Whatever the reasoning, Burleson deserves plenty of credit for working on his game and cementing himself as a piece for the 2026 Cardinals and potentially beyond.