Skip to main content
MLB Deserve-to-Win
← All hitters·All pitchers

Alec Burleson

2026
Cardinals· 1B · bats L · throws L· 670 plate appearances
Compare

Grade

His grade shows how good he has been, and at what.
A+better than 92% of hitters at creating bases

He's running above his established level this season, so a cooler stretch wouldn't be a surprise.

Complete Hitter

Above average everywhere, with the bat-to-ball skill to match the thump.

One of the league's most dangerous bats

Alec Burleson squares the ball up. He hits it hard more often than 94% of qualified hitters. There are no real holes either. His weakest mark, his walk rate, sits near the middle of the pack.

670 plate appearances · data through 2026-09-27.

How to read this chart
Each spoke is a skill estimate adjusted for sample size, not a raw season stat, and farther out is better. A ↓ marks a stat where a lower number is better, and its spoke is flipped so farther out still means better. The middle ring marks the league median and the outer ring the league best. EB/PA is estimated bases, HR% home runs, BB% walks and K% strikeouts, each per plate appearance, and Hard-hit% is balls hit 95 mph or harder. Percentiles compare him with 534 qualified hitters, the ones with 50 or more plate appearances.

Plays like…

Each of these hitters shares his archetype and sits closest to him in EB/PA. Pick one to see him side by side with Alec Burleson.

Drake BaldwinBravesDominic CanzoneMarinersBryan ReynoldsPiratesMichael BuschCubs

Hitter type

See what kind of hitter he is, next to the rest of the league.

Hitter type

He hits the ball hard far more often than most, and he controls the strike zone better than most.

League best:BB% − K% Josue De Paula (14.3%)Hard-hit% Yohandy Morales (62.5%)

How to read this chart
Two skills separate hitting styles: not giving away at-bats (walk rate minus strikeout rate) and squaring the ball up (hard-hit rate). Up and to the right is better on both. Every dot is a hitter with at least 40 plate appearances this season, and dot size tracks plate appearances. Click any dot to open that hitter's page.
 Alec BurlesonLeague medianPercentile
Bases per ball in play(higher = better).631.511—
Walk rate(higher = better)8%8%47th
Strikeout rate(lower = better)18%23%80th

A higher percentile is better, and the 99th is the top of the league.

Platoon splits

See how he hits left-handed and right-handed pitchers.

Platoon splits (EB/PA)

He hits righties better than lefties, by 0.116 EB/PA.

50% probable range: +0.095 to +0.138

vs LHP207 PA0.440

vs LHP: shrunk estimate 0.440 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.420 to 0.462, based on 207 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.413 EB/PA. League median vs LHP: 0.424 EB/PA.

vs RHP464 PA0.556

vs RHP: shrunk estimate 0.556 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.540 to 0.571, based on 464 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.610 EB/PA. League median vs RHP: 0.433 EB/PA.

His raw rate vs RHP (0.610) is off this scale. Small samples can push a raw rate this far, which is why the dot, the shrunk estimate, is the number to trust.

0.4020.4490.4960.5420.589
← worsebetter →
Above league medianBelow50% probable rangeHis raw rateMiddle half of the league

His split is wider than the typical lefty bat's (median 0.078). He is above the league median against both hands, so even his weaker side is a strength.

He sits in the league's middle half vs lefties and the league's top quarter vs righties.

How to read this chart
  • Each dot is his estimate against that hand, with its 50% probable range as the bar. Higher is better.
  • The diamond is his raw rate, which small samples make noisy, so the simulator pulls the dot toward a more trustworthy value.
  • The dashed tick is the league median, and the shaded strip is the middle half of hitters with 50 or more plate appearances.
  • Tap or hover a mark for its number. LHP and RHP are left- and right-handed pitchers. More on the About page

How he hits

See what his contact is worth and what pitchers throw him.

He hits the ball to the pull side most often, and that's where he does the most damage.

Best batted balls

Every ball Alec Burleson put in play this season is drawn where it landed.
hit · out
EBlowhigh
vs Angel ChivilliHome run
109 mph · 29° · worth 3.9 bases
08/03 vs Yankees
vs Bryse WilsonHome run
110 mph · 32° · worth 3.9 bases
09/25 vs Brewers
vs Logan WebbHome run
110 mph · 31° · worth 3.9 bases
09/07 vs Giants
vs Jared KoenigHome run
109 mph · 35° · worth 3.9 bases
07/08 vs Brewers
vs Brady SingerHome run
106 mph · 27° · worth 3.9 bases
06/05 vs Reds

Luck check

11 of his outs came on balls the simulator values at 1.5 bases or more.

vs Chris BassittOutUnlucky out
99 mph · 27° · worth 2.9 bases
08/25 vs Orioles
How to read this chart
Dot color is estimated bases (EB), what the contact was worth no matter what the defense did with it. Darker means more bases, so a dark hollow ring in the outfield is a crushed ball that got caught. Tap or hover a dot or a row to link the two, and use the ▶ links to watch a play on Baseball Savant.

Performance by pitch type

2026 · 2,483 pitches

Each row shows the bases he adds per 100 pitches of one type, against the league.

← below league medianabove league median →
Four-Seam Fastball (658 pitches)
+4.6
Lg median −0.4Lg best +8.7
Sinker (395 pitches)
+3.1
Lg median −1.3Lg best +9.7
Changeup (342 pitches)
+2.5
Lg median −0.5Lg best +16.5
Slider (300 pitches)
+0.4
Lg median −0.5Lg best +12.2
Curveball (233 pitches)
−0.6
Lg median +0.4Lg best +22.2
Cutter (214 pitches)
+2.3
Lg median −0.4Lg best +16.4
Sweeper (202 pitches)
+1.4
Lg median −0.2Lg best +15.7
Splitter (94 pitches)
+2.5
Lg median −0.5Lg best +12.9
Other (45 pitches)

+4.1 bases per 100 · no single-type league comparison

Above league medianBelowMiddle half of the leagueLg medianLg best
How to read this chart
Each row is the bases he adds per 100 pitches of that type, on the same scale as the pitcher pages’ “saved/cost per 100” but from the hitter’s side. Every pitch counts. Taking a ball adds value, whiffing loses it, and the pitch that ends the plate appearance scores its outcome against what that count usually produces. A value of +3.5 means his results against that pitch have been worth about 3.5 extra bases per 100 seen. Higher is better. Types with fewer than 50 pitches seen pool into “Other”.

Deserved vs. actual

Alec Burleson's contact has earned about 22 more bases than he has been credited with. His results have run unlucky so far.

Deserved by his own contact308
Actually credited to him286

Both bars count only his 487 balls in play, so walks and strikeouts are left out.

How to read this chart
Every ball he puts in play is worth the bases its exit velocity, launch angle and direction usually earn. If the second bar is longer than the first, his results have run ahead of his contact and he has been lucky. If it is shorter, he has been unlucky.

Swing

See how fast he swings and what he changes with two strikes. League tracking starts in 2024.

Swing at a glance

2026 · data through 2026-09-27
Bat speed · 1278 swings
72.8 mph
Lg median 71.1 mph
Slowest: S. Kwan (61.8 mph)Fastest: J. Caminero (78.4 mph)
Lg median

He swings about as fast as most hitters. His swing is longer than most hitters', with a steeper attack angle than most. With two strikes, he cuts his bat speed about as much as most hitters. His bat travels on a steeper path than most. His swing length is 6.0 inches longer since April, which counts as "a real change" and not day-to-day noise.

Attack angle
13.7°
Lg median 9.6°
Swing length
7.6 ft
Lg median 7.3 ft
Swing path tilt
36.4°
Lg median 32.4°
Middle half of the league
How to read this chart
  • Bat speed counts competitive swings only, so bunts and check swings under 50 mph are left out.
  • Swing length is how far the sweet spot of the bat travels during the swing. Attack angle is the bat’s upward or downward tilt through the zone.
  • Swing path tilt is how steep the bat’s path is.
  • “A real change” means the move from his first full month to his latest clears a strict statistical bar.
  • None of these is better or worse on its own. Swing style trades power against contact, and the fastest and slowest swings in the league both belong to stars. More on the About page

Timing

See whether his swing meets the ball early or late, over or under. Tracking starts in mid-2023.

Timing at a glance

2026 · data through 2026-09-27
Perfect contact · 1303 swings
25.5%
Lg median 22.6%Lg best 37.9%
On-time swings
65.4%
Lg median 64.6%Lg best 79.6%
Miss distance on whiffs
2.7 in
Lg median 3.0 inLg best 1.0 in

He squares the ball up about as often as most hitters. His misses split about evenly between early and late. More of his mishits come from reaching at pitches away from him than from getting tied up inside.

Middle half of the league
How to read this chart
  • Perfect contact is a swing that is centered, on time and lined up, all at once. On-time swings land within 7 milliseconds of ideal timing. Higher is better on both.
  • Miss distance counts swings and misses only. It is how far the barrel half of the bat passed from the ball, in inches, and lower is better.
  • League comparisons cover hitters with 100 or more tracked swings this season. Switch hitters have both sides combined.
  • More on the About page

How he sets up

See where he stands in the box and how his feet are set, next to the league-average setup.

How he sets up

He crowds the plate at 22″, closer than 99% of hitters (league average 27″).

Top-down batting stance vs league averagePitcher ↑

Each point is his average setup for one month this season, about a second before each pitch.

Middle half of the leagueLg median
His feetLg avg
How to read this chart
  • This is an overhead view of the batter’s box. The dots are his feet about one second before the pitch, and the rings are the league-average setup.
  • Open means his front foot is pulled off the line to the plate, and closed means it steps toward it. Neither is better or worse.
  • The chart is his monthly average this season. The band and dashed line are the middle half and the median of hitters over the whole season.
  • On the angle chart, below zero is open and above zero is closed.
  • Data through 2026-09-27. More on the About page

Best games

These are his biggest games this season.

Best games

These are his best games this season, ranked by bases above replacement.

Multi-season trends · Alec Burleson

Compared with last season, his HR% is up, his BB% is up, his K% is up, his Barrel% is up, his Hard-hit% is up and his Pull% is up.

Actual rates show what happened on the field, season by season.