Alec Burleson homers as Cardinals crush Braves

Burleson usually gets to play against southpaws, but the Cardinals will give him a day off against Eduardo Rodriguez and the Arizona staff. Blaze Jordan will get the start at first base, and Jose Fermin will handle the hot corner while Burleson rests.

Burleson essentially put the game away with a two-run blast in the fifth inning off Freddy Peralta to extend the lead to 6-0. He also added an RBI double to give him three on the day and 46 on the season. Burleson isn’t a fantasy superstar, but he’s having an outstanding season that has paired those aforementioned RBI with nine homers and a .293/.360/.472 slash. You can do a heck of a lot worse than that.

A one man wrecking crew against Rangers’ starter MacKenzie Gore, Burleson had already amassed three runs batted in by the third inning. His first run scoring hit was an early back-breaker, coming on an 0-2 pitch with two outs. His next was better struck though, a 105 mph double into the corner. Quietly one of the best run producers in the league, his 42 RBI are seventh-most in the National League as a remarkably steady hitter.

Burleson was hitting fifth against a lefty in Jordan Wicks tonight. The Cardinals first tried that on Friday after batting Burleson exclusively third and fourth previously. Burleson’s RBI in the first came on a little infield flare that dropped over the pitcher’s head but still turned into a groundout. His RBI single in the third was also pretty light; he dropped a ball down the line in shallow left that Ian Happ might have made a diving attempt on but decided against it at the last second. So, he got his runs batted in on balls hit 38 mph and 77 mph, respectively. He’s driven in 38 runs on the season, which is tied for 15th in MLB.

Burleson put the Cardinals on the board in the first inning with a sacrifice fly to get the scoring started. He later brought home an insurance run on a hard-hit single in the eighth. The 27-year-old first baseman is having a solid season at the dish, hitting .277/.342/.445 with six homers, 21 runs scored, and 33 RBI across 193 plate appearances.

José Fermín will draw the start at first base against LHP Jacob Lopez. Burleson is off to a fine start hitting .274/.344/.451 with six homers and two stolen bases in his first 41 games. He’s been a solid deep-league first baseman to this point.

That makes 25 RBI for Burleson, tying him for eighth in the MLB lead. One of them came on a near-check swing off Paul Skenes that fell perfectly into shallow left field. It’s been a surprisingly strong offensive start to the season for St. Louis, and Burleson’s role as the everyday three-hitter is certainly helping him drive teammates in.

One the league’s sneakiest best run producers at the minute, Burleson’s two-run homer here gave him 22 RBI on the season so far. That put him right between Munetaka Murakami and Mike Trout, who’ve combined to hit 22 home runs. This home run was just Burleson’s fourth. The top of this Cardinals’ order has been far better than expected and Burleson is reaping the rewards of taking so many plate appearances with runners on base.

Burleson receives his first day off this season with Ramón Urías getting a start at first base in his place. The 27-year-old, who has mostly hit third for the Cardinals this season, is batting .245 (12-for-49) with one homer, 10 RBI and one steal over 13 games

Both of his hard-hit balls were singles, unfortunately. Burleson was hitting in the two-hole and figures to be a reasonable second or third-tier fantasy starter with a full-time role after the Willson Contreras trade. Burleson is hitting .323/.488/.419 in 40 Grapefruit League plate appearances.