Alec

Burleson

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.

The Cardinals had Masyn Winn leading off and Burleson batting second today for the third time this spring, so that might be the top of the Opening Day lineup if Lars Nootbaar isn’t ready to go. If Nootbaar is back, then having him bat first, Burleson third and Iván Herrera second to separate the lefties would probably be the best way to go. Either way, Burleson’s fantasy stock won’t change much. Winn’s would, since he’ll likely bat in the bottom half of the order if he’s not leading off.

Wetherholt has an opportunity to break camp on St. Louis’ season-opening roster with a strong performance in Grapefruit League play and possesses the advanced hit tool and emerging power skillset to be a colossal fantasy difference-maker at a relatively weak second base position group. The 23-year-old top prospect batted .306/.421/.510 with 17 homers and 23 steals in 109 games in the upper minors last season and could split time between third base and the keystone with defensive wizard Masyn Winn occupying shortstop. It feels like only a matter of time before he ascends to the top of manager Oli Marmol’s lineup card as a top-of-the-order spark plug. The other interesting name to watch is power/speed combo threat Joshua Baez, who broke out with a 16-homer, 34-steal campaign at Double-A Springfield last year. Here’s the full lineup: Winn (SS), Alec Burleson (1B), Nolan Gorman (3B), Pedro Páges (C), Wetherholt (2B), José Fermín (LF), Nathan Church (CF), Baez (RF) and Blaze Jordan (DH).