This Cardinals runway player has solidified his spot for the rest of the year

All year long, St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol has had to balance playing time and competition. Under the playing time umbrella could be found players like Nolan Gorman, Jordan Walker, Victor Scott II, Ivan Herrera, Alec Burleson, and now Thomas Saggese. Mind you, Willson Contreras, Masyn Winn, and Nolan Arenado were going to be given daily reps at their respective positions.

If you're keeping count at home, that is nine players who needed to receive playing time at only seven positions on the field (we'll ignore catchers for now, as Pedro Pages and Yohel Pozo have that spot locked up).

This wasn't an easy task for Marmol. He was supposed to use 2025 as a year to see which players would be future core pieces, and that question can't fully be answered as of yet for most of those players.

However, one player has penned his name into the everyday lineup two-thirds of the way through the season.

Alec Burleson has taken advantage of his runway and become an everyday outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals.

According to reports, Oli Marmol has identified outfielder Alec Burleson as an everyday corner outfielder for the rest of the season.

First of all, good for Alec Burleson! He was drafted in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft, and he's now locked up an everyday spot. That's a noteworthy achievement for the 26-year-old outfielder.

Burleson has proven that he deserves this honor based on his offensive production over the last three years. He's incrementally brought up his OPS+ each year in the majors from 87 in 2023 as a rookie to 121 this year in his third professional season.

Despite going 0-4 on his first official night as a regular against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Burleson is still slashing .281/.337/.456 on the year for an OPS of .793. He's slugged 14 home runs, second most on the team behind Willson Contreras (15). Burleson's OPS trails only Ivan Herrera among players with at least 240 plate appearances. No matter how you slice it, Alec Burleson has been an essential offensive contributor for the St. Louis Cardinals this year.

Burleson has improved his walk rate dramatically; he's now walking 7.8% of the time, a noticeable increase from his 5.9% walk rate in 2024. His 13.2% strikeout rate places him in the 90th percentile in the league. He's also been able to bring his chase rate down from 34.5% last year to just 28.7% this year. It's still a below league average figure, but Burleson has made necessary changes to his approach.

Perhaps the most direct contributor to Burleson's power this year — he has a career-high .175 ISO and .456 slugging percentage — is his ability to pull fly balls, the most optimal batted ball type for home runs and extra base hits. He's pulling the ball in the air 15.9% of the time, a rate greater than league average (15%).

Alec Burleson remains a sub-par defensive player in the outfield, but it's tough to justify not playing his bat every day in the lineup. With fellow youngster Ivan Herrera torching pitchers still as the team's designated hitter, Burleson is being shifted to an everyday outfield role.

Ivan Herrera has started seeing some reps in left field, so it's reasonable to assume that when he's out there, Alec Burleson will still DH to keep two of the team's best hitters in the lineup every day.

Alec Burleson has earned a regular spot in the lineup, and he's being given that down the stretch. Wheels up, folks, Burly is taking off!