Cards' Slugger Pushes Way into Franchise Fixture Category with Strong '26

Growth, as St. Louis Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol pointed out repeatedly over the final month of the 2026 season, can be measured in a variety of ways.

One way, of course, is the standings – an area where the Cardinals fell back a win from 2025 (78-84) to 2026 (77-85), a dropoff that was somewhat expected with the widespread youth on the roster and the club selling off veteran pitchers JoJo Romero and Dustin May for prospects at the MLB Trade Deadline.

Instead, the Cardinals tried to evaluate areas of growth in non-traditional ways in a very non-traditional season in St. Louis. After all, it was the first full-on rebuilding season for the Cardinals in more than three decades.

Growth was having a defined core group of players – Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker, JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera, Masyn Winn, Michael McGreevy, Kyle Leahy and Riley O’Brien – take major steps in their games and evolve into building blocks.

Growth was seeing Leo Bernal, Joshua Baez, Quinn Mathews, Cooper Hjerpe and Nathan Church live up to the hype that followed them from the Minor Leagues and show signs they can be depended on going forward.

Growth was Andre Pallante and Gordon Graceffo shaking off the struggles of 2025 and showing the fortitude to change the trajectory of their careers.

“This is a really young group, but there’s been a lot of progress with so many of these guys,” Marmol said. “You can go up and down the lineup and you see growth from so many of our guys. Then, go to the rotation and what McGreevy, Pallante and Leahy did this season, and the bullpen as well. Our staff has really enjoyed pouring into that group. They are hungry for information and they want to be coaches, so that’s made it a lot of fun.”

However, as president of baseball operation Chaim Bloom reminds, the Cardinals still have major gulfs between them and MLB’s top teams. The National League champion Brewers, after all, finished 26 games ahead of St. Louis and battered the Cards in 11 of 13 head-to-head meetings. Much more growth is needed for the Cards to better navigate the difference the rebuilding and contending.

With growth being the focus, let’s look back at the performances by individual players in the 2026 season and how they will figure into the Cards’ plans going forward in 2027 and beyond:

Player name: Alec Burleson

2026 statistics: 160 games, .279/.343/.473/.816, 89 runs, 169 hits, 37 doubles, 1 triple, 26 home runs, 116 RBI, 121 strikeouts, 55 walks, four stolen bases in four tries.

Key numbers: Burleson became the first Cardinals player to lead MLB in RBI since Joe Torre during his MVP season of 1971. Here is a key reason why he went from 69 RBI in 2025 to 116 in 2026: Burleson not only ranked first in MLB in hits with runners in scoring position, but his 62 base hits were eight more than the next closest hitter (Minnesota Twins first baseman Josh Bell with 54). Also, Burleson led baseball with 15 doubles with runners in scoring position. His eye-popping .358 batting average with runners in scoring position ranked third behind Tampa Bay’s Yandy Diaz (.370) and San Diego Padres superstar Fernado Tatis Jr. (.364).

Looking back to 2026: A Silver Slugger award winner for the first time in 2025, Burleson might just win a second one this year – and do it at the premier offensive production position of first base. Moved to his natural position of first base for the first time and guaranteed to be in the lineup every day, Burleson set career highs in games, runs, hits, doubles, homers, RBI, walks and strikeouts. He also proved to be MLB’s best receiver of throws at first base with his plus-eight Receiving Outs Above Average ranking first in MLB and nearly doubling the plus-five rating of San Diego’s Ty France.

Looking forward to 2027: The Cardinals hoped to use 2026 to better identify the core of their team moving forward, and Burleson definitely established himself as one of the franchise’s key building blocks for the future. And he could be poised for an even better season in 2027 as advanced metrics showed that Burleson was one of MLB’s “unluckiest” hitters in 2026 based on his quality of contact and his ideal launch angle off the bat. He credited his improvements in 2025 to chasing fewer pitches out of the zone, but Burleson abandoned that practice in 2026 and used his elite bat-to-ball skills to become one of baseball’s best bad ball hitters. The increased aggression at the plate was just what the Cardinals needed from him, and it helped him be a key cog in the offensive engine all season.

Denton’s analysis: Burleson is projected to make $8.3 million in 2027 in his first arbitration-eligible season, and the Cardinals would be wise to make signing the sweet-swinging first baseman a priority once a new CBA is hammered out between owners and players. Pitcher Michael McGreevy offered the greatest praise for Burleson by pointing out that as valuable as he is for his clutch hitting and run production, the 27-year-old first basemen is even more critical to the Cardinals because of the examples he sets with his professionalism, humility and work ethic. His leadership is extremely valuable with young players sprinkled all over the roster, and the Cardinals would be wise to lock him up now before his value shoots up even higher in 2027.