Burleson is a star

[Ronnie Dobbs]

Agree... as good a hitter as he is this year he's not elite bc he doesn't have the power (yet?), and he's only worth 1.5 WAR. Maybe as a DH he can push that to 2.5-3 WAR.

IMO he has played himself into one of the team's best trade chips, and they should sell high on him. His hitting skills are redundant with Donovan and Nootbaar, and he doesn't have Gorman's power.

Yea, if the guy had some power I'd be higher on him, but you're right. His skill set is more in like with what I'd like to see from a slick fielder and/or a guy who can run a little bit. But for a guy who needs to be at 1B or DH, that's typically a position where you want more of a power hitter.

Credit to Burleson for doing what he's doing, but he's gotta hit for more power.

[Rocket Scientist]

Chip said last night mid game the Burleson was one of five MLB players that have hit 270+ against both left handed pitching and right handed pitching. That makes him elite in 2025 season. The guy can hit.

Then of course all the folks that said he couldn't hit lefthanders raise your hands.

[Cranny]

Agree... as good a hitter as he is this year he's not elite bc he doesn't have the power (yet?), and he's only worth 1.5 WAR. Maybe as a DH he can push that to 2.5-3 WAR.

IMO he has played himself into one of the team's best trade chips, and they should sell high on him. His hitting skills are redundant with Donovan and Nootbaar, and he doesn't have Gorman's power.

Yea, if the guy had some power I'd be higher on him, but you're right. His skill set is more in like with what I'd like to see from a slick fielder and/or a guy who can run a little bit. But for a guy who needs to be at 1B or DH, that's typically a position where you want more of a power hitter.

Credit to Burleson for doing what he's doing, but he's gotta hit for more power.

24 home runs in 154 games at AAA. 21 home runs in 152 games with the Cards last season. 16 home runs in 119 games so far this season.

How many do you want him to hit?

[Rocket Scientist]

No doubt he is proving to be a true major league hitter. Every part of him, including physique, continues to remind me of Burkman. Always puts the bat on the ball, can go with the pitch, and showing decent power.

I've been calling him Baby Berkman since last year. If he can get into that 30 homer territory, he could be Burley Berkman. Breath of fresh air, in a league full of .230 hitters.

Really shows you how much BA is worth when he still only has 1.5 WAR as a .300 hitter.

Actually, it shows how worthless the fiction of WAR is.

100%

[11WSChamps]

I don't believe anyone ever projected Burleson to be a cornerstone player.

He may be a square peg/round hole player to some but he produces in a lineup that really has no foundational MOB and that's saying something.

The criticism he gets here is just in a word stupid.

With a better lineup his numbers would be even better.

[Lloyd Braun]

No doubt he is proving to be a true major league hitter. Every part of him, including physique, continues to remind me of Burkman. Always puts the bat on the ball, can go with the pitch, and showing decent power.

I've been calling him Baby Berkman since last year. If he can get into that 30 homer territory, he could be Burley Berkman. Breath of fresh air, in a league full of .230 hitters.

Really shows you how much BA is worth when he still only has 1.5 WAR as a .300 hitter.

WAR isn't a real stat. It's a made up metric, devised by people that claim batting average is meaningless.

Of course, it doesn't value BA. It was designed to ignore it.

[ClassicO]

I don't know how a "star" can be a horrible baserunner and defensive player. Is he a good hitter? Yes. Not even great, just good.
Our standards have fallen.
He's 5th on a bad team in fWAR and bWAR, and Herrera would be ahead of him with more ABs.
He's barely ahead of a floundering Nootbar in bWAR - 1.8 to 1.6.

[11WSChamps]

I don't know how a "star" can be a horrible baserunner and defensive player. Is he a good hitter? Yes. Not even great, just good.
Our standards have fallen.
He's 5th on a bad team in fWAR and bWAR, and Herrera would be ahead of him with more ABs.
He's barely ahead of a floundering Nootbar in bWAR - 1.8 to 1.6.

Yeah we don't that about Hererra yet.

His last two months have been brutal and he has a problem staying on the field.

[Jobu's Rum]

Helluva game.

The dude can hit!

No, he is not there yet. 16 HR and 60 RBI, good supporting hitter but far from a star, Settle down hugey lol

[Adam2]

Agree... as good a hitter as he is this year he's not elite bc he doesn't have the power (yet?), and he's only worth 1.5 WAR. Maybe as a DH he can push that to 2.5-3 WAR.

IMO he has played himself into one of the team's best trade chips, and they should sell high on him. His hitting skills are redundant with Donovan and Nootbaar, and he doesn't have Gorman's power.

Yea, if the guy had some power I'd be higher on him, but you're right. His skill set is more in like with what I'd like to see from a slick fielder and/or a guy who can run a little bit. But for a guy who needs to be at 1B or DH, that's typically a position where you want more of a power hitter.

Credit to Burleson for doing what he's doing, but he's gotta hit for more power.

24 home runs in 154 games at AAA. 21 home runs in 152 games with the Cards last season. 16 home runs in 119 games so far this season.

How many do you want him to hit?

If he's at first minimum 25-30. Cards don't have that player though

[hullie]

Reminds me of a young Schwarber. Needs to get in better shape.

Round is a shape

[ClassicO]

No doubt he is proving to be a true major league hitter. Every part of him, including physique, continues to remind me of Burkman. Always puts the bat on the ball, can go with the pitch, and showing decent power.

I've been calling him Baby Berkman since last year. If he can get into that 30 homer territory, he could be Burley Berkman. Breath of fresh air, in a league full of .230 hitters.

Really shows you how much BA is worth when he still only has 1.5 WAR as a .300 hitter.

WAR isn't a real stat. It's a made up metric, devised by people that claim batting average is meaningless.

Of course, it doesn't value BA. It was designed to ignore it.

First, you're wrong - WAR uses batting average by incorporating it into the "Batting Runs" component of its calculation.
Second, if you don't like WAR, what stats do you use to gauge the overall value of a player = hitting, fielding, and running, and even something for positional value*? (Please don't say batting average.)
The last I heard, the teams that score the most runs in a game wins, so how do you measure how well a player contributes to scoring or preventing runs?
It's easy to criticize, hard to be thoughtful.


* If you value a catcher, SS or CF the same as other positions, it's a dumb comparison for value to the team)?

[rbirules]

Agree... as good a hitter as he is this year he's not elite bc he doesn't have the power (yet?), and he's only worth 1.5 WAR. Maybe as a DH he can push that to 2.5-3 WAR.

IMO he has played himself into one of the team's best trade chips, and they should sell high on him. His hitting skills are redundant with Donovan and Nootbaar, and he doesn't have Gorman's power.

Yea, if the guy had some power I'd be higher on him, but you're right. His skill set is more in like with what I'd like to see from a slick fielder and/or a guy who can run a little bit. But for a guy who needs to be at 1B or DH, that's typically a position where you want more of a power hitter.

Credit to Burleson for doing what he's doing, but he's gotta hit for more power.

24 home runs in 154 games at AAA. 21 home runs in 152 games with the Cards last season. 16 home runs in 119 games so far this season.

How many do you want him to hit?

If he's at first minimum 25-30. Cards don't have that player though

Pretty much this. If he's a starting 1B or DH, he needs to hit for a lot more power than 20 HRs per season, especially given his lack of walks. He's a player with great bat to ball skills unfortunately that skill is stuck in the body of a player that has to play a corner spot (and ideally 1B or DH) which requires a higher baseline of hitting performance. Alec is going to struggle to exceed that baseline without hitting for more power (or again, walking more). If we had some stars up the middle that could ease the burden on corner players he might be able to be a 1B hitting 6th in the lineup as a 125-130 wRC+ hitter with moderate power, but we don't have that right now. As is, he's ideally a part time player, or rather role player, on a really good team.

[Shady]

Agree... as good a hitter as he is this year he's not elite bc he doesn't have the power (yet?), and he's only worth 1.5 WAR. Maybe as a DH he can push that to 2.5-3 WAR.

IMO he has played himself into one of the team's best trade chips, and they should sell high on him. His hitting skills are redundant with Donovan and Nootbaar, and he doesn't have Gorman's power.

Yea, if the guy had some power I'd be higher on him, but you're right. His skill set is more in like with what I'd like to see from a slick fielder and/or a guy who can run a little bit. But for a guy who needs to be at 1B or DH, that's typically a position where you want more of a power hitter.

Credit to Burleson for doing what he's doing, but he's gotta hit for more power.

24 home runs in 154 games at AAA. 21 home runs in 152 games with the Cards last season. 16 home runs in 119 games so far this season.

How many do you want him to hit?

If he's at first minimum 25-30. Cards don't have that player though

Pretty much this. If he's a starting 1B or DH, he needs to hit for a lot more power than 20 HRs per season, especially given his lack of walks. He's a player with great bat to ball skills unfortunately that skill is stuck in the body of a player that has to play a corner spot (and ideally 1B or DH) which requires a higher baseline of hitting performance. Alec is going to struggle to exceed that baseline without hitting for more power (or again, walking more). If we had some stars up the middle that could ease the burden on corner players he might be able to be a 1B hitting 6th in the lineup as a 125-130 wRC+ hitter with moderate power, but we don't have that right now. As is, he's ideally a part time player, or rather role player, on a really good team.

"As is, he's ideally a part time player, or rather role player, on a really good team". You are reaching there. Burleson's bat would play regularly for any current team.

[moose-and-squirrel]

Reminds me of a young Schwarber. Needs to get in better shape.

this is a tired angle.. dude is in better shape every year and is hardly fat. he's just a big dude

schwarber, otoh, is hardly svelte

*That's* the reason you think they're not similar? Cause Burleson is skinnier than Schwarber?

Besides that it's a ridiculous point of difference (the real difference is Schwarber's elite power and BB rate), it's not even correct. Have you seen Schwarber in the last few years? The guy is like a pillar of muscle. I bet he weighs 20-30 lbs. more than Burleson just bc he has muscle and not fat.

Read what I responded to

[An Old Friend]

Agree... as good a hitter as he is this year he's not elite bc he doesn't have the power (yet?), and he's only worth 1.5 WAR. Maybe as a DH he can push that to 2.5-3 WAR.

IMO he has played himself into one of the team's best trade chips, and they should sell high on him. His hitting skills are redundant with Donovan and Nootbaar, and he doesn't have Gorman's power.

Yea, if the guy had some power I'd be higher on him, but you're right. His skill set is more in like with what I'd like to see from a slick fielder and/or a guy who can run a little bit. But for a guy who needs to be at 1B or DH, that's typically a position where you want more of a power hitter.

Credit to Burleson for doing what he's doing, but he's gotta hit for more power.

24 home runs in 154 games at AAA. 21 home runs in 152 games with the Cards last season. 16 home runs in 119 games so far this season.

How many do you want him to hit?

If he's at first minimum 25-30. Cards don't have that player though

Pretty much this. If he's a starting 1B or DH, he needs to hit for a lot more power than 20 HRs per season, especially given his lack of walks. He's a player with great bat to ball skills unfortunately that skill is stuck in the body of a player that has to play a corner spot (and ideally 1B or DH) which requires a higher baseline of hitting performance. Alec is going to struggle to exceed that baseline without hitting for more power (or again, walking more). If we had some stars up the middle that could ease the burden on corner players he might be able to be a 1B hitting 6th in the lineup as a 125-130 wRC+ hitter with moderate power, but we don't have that right now. As is, he's ideally a part time player, or rather role player, on a really good team.

"As is, he's ideally a part time player, or rather role player, on a really good team". You are reaching there. Burleson's bat would play regularly for any current team.

Did you cut the sleeves off of your Burleson shirsey?