Already the NLB leader in RBI (116) this season, Cardinals' standout Alec Burleson also evolved into MLB's top 'receiving' first baseman in 2026. Burleson's eight Receiving Outs Above Average easily lead all of baseball and he thrive on making scoop catches this past season.
With an MLB-leading 116 RBI this past season, St. Louis Cardinals’ standout Alec Burleson proved himself to be one of MLB’s top offensive first basemen.
Now, upon the creation of a new metric that further gauges the value of receiving throws across the infield, Burleson might be well on his way to becoming one of the game’s best defensive first basemen, as well.
Looking for a better way to evaluate the defensive impact of first basemen and their abilities to bring in low, high and wide throws and their abilities to snag scoop and bounce throws, Baseball Savant devised the First Base Receiving leaderboard. Burleson, who spent his first full MLB season at first base in 2026, was a top performer in several of the major categories and he was the runaway leader in Receiving Outs Above Average.
Burleson’s eight Receiving Outs Above Average (OAA) were three more than MLB’s next closest first baseman (San Diego’s Ty France with five). Six-foot-5 Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz (four) and Dodgers’ 6-foot-4 first baseman Freddie Freeman (four) tied for third in Receiving Outs Above Average.
Burleson was also easily the best receiver of the six left-handed first basemen in MLB. His eight OAA were twice that of Kurtz (four), and well ahead of Vinnie Pasquantino (one), Kyle Stowers (one), Jake Bauers (zero) and Josh Naylor (minus-one).
After being forced to bounce around the outfield and at the designated hitter position over the first four years of his career with Paul Goldschmidt and Willson Contreras previously playing first base, Burleson got his first chance at being the everyday first baseman in 2026. He certainly made the most of the opportunity by delivering offensively and defensively for the Cardinals.
“Alec has done a nice job over there at first,” Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom said during a recent interview on Cardinals TV. “Obviously we had seen that (play at first base) here and there previously, but him playing well at first was one of the big bets we were willing to make last offseason. We’re happy with how things shaped up there and he has definitely rewarded our faith in him there.”
Of the 650 receiving plays possible at first base this season for the 6-foot Burleson, he made 623 of them. The rest were either balls in the dirt that he was unable to dig out or wide or high throws that prevented him from keeping his foot on the base.
First base “scoops” are balls that bounce between 5 and 15 feet of the bag. On “scoops,” Burleson was the best in baseball by recording 2.3 Outs Above Average. That ranked ahead of Atlanta’s Matt Olson (2.0) and Arizona’s Christian Walker (1.9) – two former Gold Glove winners.
First base “bounce” throws are ones that land at least 15 feet out of the bag. On those plays, Burleson’s 2.3 Outs Above Average ranked second to Seattle’s Josh Naylor (2.5).
On “wide” throws, ones that are 2 ½ feet of the bag one way or the other, Burleson ranked third with 1.2 Outs Above Average. He was 16th (0.5 OAA) on “high” throws (more than seven feet off ground), with Colorado’s 6-foot-5 first baseman TJ Rumfield (1.4 OAA) dominating that category. On “low” throws (less than 1 foot off the ground), Burleson was No. 14 (0.6 OAA), well behind Olson (1.6 OAA).
Burleson did all that while becoming the first Cardinals player to lead MLB in RBI since Joe Torre did it in 1971. Also, he was the first Cardinals left-handed hitter to lead MLB in RBI since fellow North Carolina native Enos “Country” Slaughter did it in 1946.
Burleson, who won his first Silver Slugger award in 2025 as a utility fielder, could win a second Silver Slugger as a first baseman. In 160 games, Burleson slashed .279/.343/.473/.816 with 27 doubles, 26 homers and those 116 RBI.
