Alec Burleson #41

Selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of East Carolina University... signed with the Cardinals on June 15, 2020... Cardinals used a pick they received as compensation for Marcell Ozuna leaving as a free agent... per MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis, Burleson signed for $700,000; the slot value for No. 70 was $906,800... Burleson was a two-way player at ECU, owning a .341 career batting average and 3.47 career ERA... Cardinals initial plans were to develop Burleson as a hitter; Cards drafted him as a corner outfielder, but he can also play first base... in 17 games before the 2020 season ended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Burleson went 24-for-64 (.375) and struck out just three times while drawing eight walks... became the fourth ECU player to be drafted by the Cardinals, joining Seth Maness (2011, 11th round), Evan Kruczynski ('17, ninth round) and Chris Holba ('18, 11th round)... made his Minor League debut with the Cardinals on May 4, 2021, drawing a pair of walks for High-A Peoria at Cedar Rapids... made his Double-A debut with Springfield on May 18 vs. Northwest Arkansas... hit his first career home run on May 5, 2021 at Cedar Rapids.

2023

Entered the season ranked by MLB.com as the No. 91 overall prospect in baseball

2022

Spent most of the season with Triple-A Memphis, where he appeared in 109 games and hit .331 with 20 homers, 87 RBIs and 25 doubles... made his Major League debut on Sept. 8, 2022 and went 9-for-48 with a homer and three RBIs in 16 games with St. Louis... was named an International League postseason All-Star... selected by MiLB.com as a Cardinals Organization All-Star... won the International League batting title with a .331 average over 109 games and was one of only two hitters at the level to finish with a .300 average and 20 home runs (exactly that amount in his case); the other was Wynton Bernard, who played in the high elevation of Albuquerque... with a 14.3 percent K rate (ninth-best in Triple-A), Burleson protected the plate by relying on his stellar bat control to spray line drives with two strikes

2021

Entered the season ranked as the No. 26 prospect in the Cardinals organization by Baseball America... Batted combined .270/.329/.454 with 22 home runs and 76 RBI in 119 games between Peoria (High-A), Springfield (AA), and Memphis (AAA) in his first season playing in the organization after being drafted in 2020... Ranked among organizational leaders in games (T-1st), plate appearances (503, 2nd), at-bats (456, 2nd), hits (123, 2nd), home runs (4th), RBIs (2nd), and total bases (207, 3rd)… Appeared defensively in 75 games in right field, 29 games in left field, and one game at first base... Slugged 18 homers over his first 74 professional games between Peoria and Springfield... Named Cardinals Minor League Player of the Month for May, hitting .317/.394/.610 (26-82) with seven home runs, 19 RBIs and a 1.003 OPS in 21 games to open the season... Made his professional debut on 5/4, drawing a pair of walks for High-A Peoria at Cedar Rapids... Hit .286/.367/.595 (12-42) with four homers in his first 11 games before being promoted to Springfield (AA) on 5/17... Promoted to Memphis (AAA) on 8/3... Homered and drove in six runs in 13-12 loss to Nashville (8/22).