Re-ranking the value of the Cardinals' 10 best young position players

The St. Louis Cardinals 2024 season is off and running, and while the club has run into a variety of issues that have kept them from maintaining a winning record to this point, it has been really fun to watch their young position player core take on significant roles for this club.

Back in January, I ranked the Cardinals' 10 most valuable position players, but as Spring Training and the early parts of the regular season have come and passed, there are some major shake-ups in how I view this dynamic group of position players.

The last time I did this ranking, I only included players with five or fewer years of service time. This time around, I am only going to include players who have yet to reach arbitration, meaning Tommy Edman and Dylan Carlson are ineligible for the list this time around. I'll also save the honorable mentions this time, but names like Pedro Pages, Leonardo Bernal, Woo-Bin Cho, and William Sullivan come to mind.

Here are the 10 most valuable young position players in the Cardinals organization

10. Alec Burleson (Previous ranking: #10)

Coming in at number ten on my list is the guy who continues to hit the ball hard, and yet, the results continue to not be there.

Alec Burleson is a good player and will be a major leaguer for a long time. I know there are fans who get frustrated by the lack of production, but I have a feeling Burleson would figure things out in a significant way. Unfortunately, I'm not sure Burleson will get that with the Cardinals due to the sheer depth of young talent they have.

For Burleson to really establish himself long-term, he's going to need to add a bit more slug to his game and find a way to lay off some of the bad pitches he swipes at outside of the zone. His bat-to-ball skills are great, and those will carry him a long way. Burleson is never going to be a plus defender, but I do think he's getting better and better as the months go on.

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