Cardinals first baseman Alec Burleson likes to hit high pitches, but it isn't something that he would advise doing for players such as standout rookie JJ Wetherholt.
Young and impressionable rookie JJ Wetherholt was in the process of doing an in-game interview with Cardinals.TV when teammate Alec Burleson jumped all over a letter-high fastball and smoked a line drive into right field.
Right on cue, Wetherholt shrieked with excitement and exclaimed, “He’s so good at hitting those high pitches! I wish he would teach me how to hit those pitches!”
Much like a disappointed parent ashamed of the example he was setting for the younger disciple, Burleson shook his head and pronounced that he would not be encouraging the 23-year-old Wetherholt to chase pitches out of the strike zone.
However, Burleson – who homered on a pitch well above the zone on Friday night – has no plans of laying off the pitches that tend to give other hitters problems.
“Oh, I like neck-high fastballs,” Burleson joked recently.
Burleson drilled MacKenzie Gore’s high fastball for a double on Wednesday night in the Cardinals’ 5-3 defeat of the Rangers on Wednesday night. Then, in Friday’s come-from-behind 10-3 win over the Reds, Burleson hit some letter cheddar for a solo homer that tied the game at 3 and set the stage for the big finish to the game.
Burleson uses quick hands to get to high pitches
Featuring stellar bat-to-ball skills and exceptionally quick hands, Burleson is able to get to the high fastballs that often trouble lesser hitters. Remarkably, it has become a zone where he has featured some of his best power by whacking many of those pitches for extra-base hits.
Burleson’s towering two-run homer on Opening Day came on a high fastball and it was one that required him to use his quick hands and to not only get to, but to drive it out of the ballpark.
How quick are Burleson’s hands. Against fastballs, he’s hitting .298 and slugging .494 with five doubles and five homers. Swinging at high pitches causes baseball metrics to dink his chase rate (35.3 percent, 19th percentile in MLB), but he makes up for it by ranking in MLB’s 83rd percentile in hard-hit and squared up rates (47.7 percent) and in the 82nd percentile in average exit velocity (91.2 mph).
Burleson, a Silver Slugger award winner in 2025, warned that swinging at elevated pitches can come with plenty of risk and reward.
“I wouldn’t recommend (Wetherholt) ever swinging at that pitch,” Burleson said with a wry smile. “It works out for me more than other guys, but still not enough. No, I don’t need to teach him how to hit fastballs above the zone.”
Burleson couldn’t help but take a playful job at the 5-foot-9 Wetherholt’s lack of height.
“JJ is just fine where he is and he’s going to be really good for a long time,” Burleson said of Wetherholt, who has missed the past three games with groin soreness. “So, no, I will not teach him how to swing at pitches over his head.”
Join the conversation
Remember to join our CARDINALS on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other CARDINALS fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!
