Alec Burleson Lands On List Every Cardinals Player Wishes They Could

In 2025, Alec Burleson took his game to another level for the St. Louis Cardinals and earned his first career Silver Slugger Award.

It was a great campaign for Burleson, but the 2026 season has somehow been significantly better. Right now, he's leading the league in both RBIs (111) and doubles (37) to go along with a career-high 23 homers. These are number actually put him on a list in Cardinals history that every player would likely love to be on. In fact, it's just the sixth since in the last 20 years that a Cardinals player has had 20-plus homers, 35-plus doubles and 110-plus RBIs, as shared on X by Just Baseball.

Cardinals players in the last 20 years with 20+ HR, 35+ 2B and 110+ RBI in a season:

2008 Albert Pujols (MVP)
2008 Ryan Ludwick
2009 Albert Pujols (MVP)
2010 Albert Pujols (MVP Runner-Up)
2022 Paul Goldschmidt (MVP)
2026 Alec Burleson ‼️ pic.twitter.com/qC4lQVXnc7
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) September 16, 2026

The Cardinals Should Extend Alec Burleson

Sep 14, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Alec Burleson (41) reacts after hitting a one run single against the San Francisco Giants during the fifth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Cardinals legend Albert Pujols claims three of those elite seasons, along with one each for Ryan Ludwick and Paul Goldschmidt. Again, that's the company you want to keep if you're donning a St. Louis jersey, to say the least.

Burleson is one of the most underrated players in baseball. Right now, he's slashing .284/.350/.471 with an .822 OPS, 23 homers, 111 RBIs, 37 doubles and 85 runs scored in 152 games played. No matter where the Cardinals put him, he thrives. The 2026 season is his first as the full-time first baseman of the Cardinals after the club traded Willson Contreras away. St. Louis went from Goldschmidt, to Contreras and now to Burleson and the offensive production has arguably just gotten better over the last three seasons specifically. That's a testament to how good Burleson has been in 2026.

Plus, let's not forget the fact that he's just 27 years old. He's in his fifth big league season, so sometimes it's easy to forget how young he is. He should just keep getting better and St. Louis has him under team control through the 2028 season. Burleson is the type of player the Cardinals should be talking to as a way to see if they could get an extension done. JJ Wetherholt and Jordan Walker are the two franchise cornerstone pieces who get the most buzz. But what Burleson has been able to do at first base this season isn't something easy to find around the league.

Plus, despite the fact that he's still young himself, he's a big voice for this very young roster. Burleson has enough team control left to think St. Louis could be in contention by the time his contract wraps. So, the Cardinals should look to extend. Imagine if the Cardinals waited all this time to get back to contention and all of a sudden they lost potentially their best overall hitter? That would surely be a mistake.

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