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CHICAGO — By the time future Hall of Fame pitcher Justin Verlander yielded the mound to a reliever in the fifth inning of Monday’s game at Oracle Park, Alec Burleson had three singles off the right-hander. His infield single was part of the rally that ejected Verlander.
Burleson was about as thrilled with that dribbler as he was with a looper in the first.
“Didn’t hit that great,” he said.
When told the metrics of the hit, Burleson raised his hand to eye level.
“My standards are up here,” he laughed. “I didn’t hit that one great. Definitely felt like going into it this could be a damage night, especially when he didn’t have his best stuff. Should have been more damage, personally. But I’m not going home upset with three hits.”
In this season of opportunity, a left-right combination of hitters has emerged for the Cardinals’ future lineup: Ivan Herrera, a right-handed batter, is surging his way toward 20 homers as the season closes, and Burleson, from the left, who has elbowed his way to 18 homers and into the National League’s top batting averages. Burleson brings a nine-game hitting streak into the final weekend of the regular season and a .293 average that is tied for the third-highest in the NL.
Oh, and he should win a Silver Slugger Award.
While not as obvious as Masyn Winn’s claim to the Rawlings Gold Glove Award at shortstop, Burleson has a strong bid to win the Silver Slugger award at utility. The biggest question isn’t his stats – it’s whether voters realize he’s eligible.
In 2022, Louisville Slugger began awarding a Silver Slugger to a utility player in each league, recognizing that the game increasingly used standout hitters at a variety of positions and they were slipping through the ballots as a result. In 2024, Dodgers star Mookie Betts won the Silver Slugger at utility in the National League while playing at least 18 games at three different positions but not enough at shortstop to challenge Francisco Lindor’s claim to his fourth Silver Slugger at the position.
To qualify for the utility Silver Slugger honor a batter must appear in at least 100 games and play more than 20 at two or more positions. (Outfield positions are considered together as one, so 21 in right and 34 in left would be 75 in the outfield, not two separate positions.)
The list of players in the NL who are eligible is short.
And there atop it in several offensive categories is Burleson.
He’s appeared in 137 games total, played 74 of them in the outfield and, with the recent run at first base, qualified for the utility Silver Slugger with 48 games there. He’s not the traditional middle-infielder-utility-bounce-around guy, but he’s eligible – and deserving.
Burleson has hit .293 with a .345 on-base percentage and a .464 slugging percentage for a .810 OPS. His OPS+, which normalizes those rates and compares against a league average of 100, is 127, or 27% better than an average peer. One of the utility players closest to Burleson’s production is teammate Brendan Donovan (.775 OPS, 119 OPS+) but he’s two games in the outfield shy of qualifying with three games remaining.
Plus, ballots went out to coaches and managers in the past few weeks, long before Donovan would have been among the eligible.
A look at the statistics early Friday morning, reveal only a handful of players with an OPS+ of league average or better and the variety of positions necessary to qualify for the Silver Slugger. Consider some of those contenders, compared to Burleson:
• Jeff McNeil, Mets — .247/.339/.418, .757 OPS, 115 OPS+, 12 homers, 53 RBIs, 42 runs
• Brett Baty, Mets — .255/.314/.430, .750 OPS, 112 OPS+, 18 homers, 50 RBIs, 53 runs
• Miguel Rojas, Dodgers — .262/.320/.394, .714 OPS, 100 OPS+, 7 homers, 27 RBIs, 34 runs
• Xavier Edwards, Marlins — .279/.338/.350, .688 OPS, 92 OPS+, 3 homers, 41 RBIs, 74 runs
• Alec Burleson, Cardinals — .293/.345/.464, .810 OPS, 127 OPS+, 18 homers, 69 RBIs, 54 runs
McNeil, a former Silver Slugger winner and batting champ, has the name recommendation to go with the known versatility and that middle-infield rep. He’s played 76 games at second and 48 in the outfield. Baty, McNeil’s teammate in Queens, has split time at two infield positions while hitting 18 homers. Rojas has moved around the most with at least 20 games at shortstop, third, and second for the NL West champions. Each of those three, along with Edwards, have starts in the middle infield that Burleson does not.
In 2023, Cody Bellinger won the utility Silver Slugger honor with the Cubs. He had a .881 OPS and a 139 OPS+ to go with 84 games in center, another premium defensive position, and more than 50 games at first base. Perhaps the best comparison for Burleson was the first ever NL winner of the Silver Slugger’s utility honor: Brandon Drury. In a 2022 split between two teams, Drury had a .813 OPS with a 123 OPS+ and split time between corner infield positions, most of which came at third base. The three utility winners in the American League all spent some of those seasons at a middle-infield position.
Voters must dig past the positions to see Burleson’s eligibility for the honor to even compare his offensive production against the other utility fielders.
Which means it’s possible the utility Silver Slugger award will be decided by a glove.
You can read the full Write Fielder newsletter here with more news, notes, and morsels of analysis from the Cardinals beat.
Welcome to The Write Fielder – a weekly newsletter on baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals f…
The veteran put the finishing touches Wednesday on 200-strikeout season that gives him confidence being a “top five pitcher,” but at 36, he wants to chase winning.
Sonny Gray’s openness to consider waiving his no-trade clause could open another spot in the Cardinals’ already uncertain rotation for next season.
Donovan’s four doubles pairs with home runs from Ivan Herrera and Nolan Arenado for a 9-8 comeback win as they claw to remain in playoff race.
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Derrick Goold | Post-Dispatch
Lead baseball writer
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