Alec Burleson making most of opportunity with St. Louis

Alec Burleson debuted for the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 8, 2022, a moment he said was “surreal.”

“It was a day game against the Nationals when I debuted and I was in the lineup in between Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina,” Burleson said. “It was just so surreal being between those two guys and I think I walked my first at-bat and then Yadi homered, so yeah it was just awesome.”

Appearing in 107 games in 2023, Burleson’s total stats were a .244 batting average, a .300 on-base percentage and a .390 slugging percentage, all of which were a vast improvement from his 16 appearance late in 2022. Burleson said for him, the most important stats are the ones before and after the All-Star Break last season.

“After the all-star break, I kind of sat down and said look, ‘you have to make adjustments. Obviously what you're doing isn't working,’ Burleson said. “I was hitting the ball hard and wasn't getting the results but I thought a little change wouldn't hurt. I kind of made some adjustments and I think I had really good numbers in the second half. I'm just learning to be open to change and understanding works for me.”

Many new draft picks are in the minor leagues for an average of anywhere between 4-7 years but Burleson made it in just over two years. Burleson said he has been fortunate to shoot up the ranks so quickly but he’s needed some time to adjust to the big leagues.

“I was kind of fast-tracked to the big leagues, which is awesome, I’m not complaining. There's a learning curve when you're playing professional baseball and I’m still on that and I'm still trying to learn anything I can,” Burleson said.

St. Louis obviously saw something in Burleson to draft him and Burleson said he could not be more happy to try and return the winning Cardinals culture fans have not seen in nearly 15 years.

“We didn't do what we wanted to do last year. I think we did a lot of things right and I think something didn't go our way,” Burleson said. “I think I can speak for all the players that we’re going to put a better product on the field this year. We learned a lot last year some good and some bad and we'll take that this year and use it to our advantage.”

Alec Burleson and the Cardinals will begin the 2024 season on March 28 when they travel to the sunny city of Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers.