Alec Burleson's defense at first base this season has been so good that the Cardinals believe that he could someday win a Gold Glove there. He won a Silver Slugger award in 2025 and could add to that trophy hardware if he continues to thrive defensively at first base.
ST. LOUIS – After Alec Burleson was one of the heroes of Tuesday’s 9-6 victory over the Pirates with a nifty first base-to-shortstop double play in the seventh inning and a gritty dig of short-hop throw to end the 10th, Cardinals third baseman Nolan Gorman was asked if his good buddy might someday be good enough to win a Gold Glove.
“At this rate, he’s going to win me a Gold Glove,” Gorman said, half-jokingly and half-seriously.
Gorman’s reference, of course, was to the Cardinals’ first baseman going down into the dirt and scooping out his short-hop throw from across the diamond after he had ranged to his right to take a hit away from Nick Gonzalez. It was just one of several plus plays on a night when Burleson looked like he might someday have the potential to add a Gold Glove to his trophy case along with his Silver Slugger from the 2025 season.
“I do (think he could win a Gold Glove) because he’s really good over there, he’s comfortable and he puts in the work,” Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol said of Burleson. “His footwork around the bag is really good, he slows the game down and his game awareness is super high. I do think he has the ability to (win a Gold Glove) because the dude can pick it.”
Different defensive metrics tell different stories about how well Burleson has played this season, his first season at his natural position after bouncing around the outfield to accommodate past St. Louis first basemen Paul Goldschmidt and Willson Contreras.
Fielding Bible’s Defensive Runs Saved, a metric that measures a player’s defensive impact on the game, Burleson is tied for 12th in MLB and eighth in the National League with a rating of plus-1. His play at first – where he has been asked to handle numerous throws in the dirt when Gold Glove shortstop Masyn Winn, standout rookie JJ Wetherholt and Gorman have scurried to get to balls – has helped the Cardinals rank third in MLB in DRS (25), trailing only the Red Sox (46) and Dodgers (32).
Baseball Savant, which uses Outs Above Average as its defensive metric, hasn’t credited Burleson with having as large of a defensive impact. Savant has awarded Burleson with a minus-2 OAA ranking, which is only good for 24th among MLB first basemen. Savant has penalized Burleson on plays to his right (-2), while he is at even on plays to his left and when going back on balls. Also, that site has credited him with a 74 percent success rate when 75 percent has been the “Estimated Success Rate.”
One possible reason why Burleson has been dinged on balls to his right has been because of the exceptional range of Wetherholt, who has been a defensive revelation for the Cardinals at second base. Wetherholt has seven OAA, good for seventh in MLB and third in the NL. In terms of DRS, he has six and is 16th in MLB.
After hearing all those numbers, Marmol said the Cardinals’ proprietary metrics have the first baseman graded much higher than Baseball Savant or Fielding Bible, Marmol then added, “We like him.”
Burleson puts his body on the line
Burleson put his body on the line with one out in the eighth inning when fielding a spinning dribbler off the bat of Pittsburgh’s Jay Triola. Noticing that lefty reliever failed to get over to first cover the bag, Burleson targeted Triola and darted toward him for the tag. After diving to apply the tag on a head-first-sliding Triola, the runner’s cleat skimmed along the back of Burleson’s head.
After a consultation with the training staff and Marmol, Burleson stayed in the game – fully unaware of how close he came to actually getting a metal spike to the head on the play.
“It was one of those tweener balls that as a first baseman is tough to go and get because the flip is a little awkward, but my first move was to go and get it,” said Burleson, who hit 404-foot home run in the bottom half of the eighth inning. “I heard JoJo say something, which told me he wasn’t going to be at first, which told me it was on me. I just tried to not get hurt.”
Burleson, who played first base throughout his formative years, said he takes tremendous pride in being a player this team can count on to scoop low throws and contribute defensively.
“I’m not doing it for me; it’s for the other guys and to pick them up,” Burleson said of his first base scoops on short-hop throws. “When they make a really good play and don’t have time to set their feet and make a perfect throw, I want to be there to pick them up. I definitely take pride in that. It’s something I work on every day and I’m going to continue to do it to help these guys out.”
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