Cardinals receive surprising amount of love in NL Silver Slugger Finalist reveal

The St. Louis Cardinals on-field product was below-average but they still had two individuals being honored for their work with the bat. Louisville Slugger announced that the Cardinals have two finalists for the NL Silver Slugger award, but maybe in a different way than anticipated.

Alec Burleson and Brendan Donovan are Silver Slugger finalists

The Silver Slugger Award, which will be announced on November 2, is voted on by MLB managers and coaches. They cast ballots for the players they determine to be the best offensive producers at each position in their respective league. Each team receives four votes: the manager and three coaches of their choice. Votes are based on a combination of offensive statistics including OBP, OPS, OPS+, home runs, hits, RBI and batting average as well as the managers’ and coaches’ general impressions of a player’s overall offensive value. The accounting firm of Deming, Malone, Livesay & Ostroff verifies the tabulation of ballots.

Even with a disappointing year for the offense as a whole, both Brendan Donovan and Alec Burleson stood out enough to garner recognition as finalists for the award. Interestingly, neither will be competing for the award for a single position as they both made the list for Silver Slugger finalists for utility players. Donovan is no stranger to the utility player honors as he was named the Utility Gold Glove Award winner in 2022 as a rookie, but this is his first nomination for an award for his offense while balancing positions. Interestingly, Burleson was also included in the utility category for his time spent at first base and in the outfield.

Donovan made his case for the honors with a great first half that saw him put up a .797 OPS while making his first All-Star appearance. By the end of the season, Donnie put up a .287/.353/.422 slash line with 10 homers and 32 doubles. The lefty played three different spots this season, bouncing between second base, shortstop, and left field, with the majority of his time being spent at the keystone. All told, Donovan's 119 WRC+ was good for a top-30 finish among all qualified hitters in the NL, regardless of position.

Competing with Donovan for the award is Alec Burleson, who found a way to maintain his consistent approach throughout the whole season to put up a career-best campaign. With an .801 OPS and 125 WRC+, the outfielder/first baseman finished as a top-20 hitter in the league while putting up a .290 batting average and smacking 18 homers with 26 doubles on his stat sheet. This season was a great step forward for Burly as he played his way into an everyday role despite the pitcher on the mound. Burleson spent the 2025 season at three positions, spending near-equal time at first base, left field, and right field.

Of the two hitters, it appears that Burleson has a stronger case than Donovan to take home the Silver Slugger award. The winners of the award will be announced on November 2.