Not a difficult choice
When I sit at my computer Sunday night to find a player of the week, I usually have a difficult job. It would be weird for multiple players to not have good weeks on an above average baseball team, and thus I have some options. While Nolan Arenado and Lars Nootbaar both had excellent weeks, there was no difficult choice this time. Alec Burleson was far and away the best performer this past week.
It does also continue the tradition, however, of Burleson being 0 for 4 on Sunday. That has been a disqualifier for me in the past in the sense that he entered Sunday with roughly equal numbers to other players and then he has has a bad Sunday. At least on nights where I have to find a player of the week.
But in this case, he had a good enough Monday to Saturday that it doesn’t matter. In that span, he batted .455 with three homers and 9 RBIs. This is the most Alec Burleson thing ever, but his OBP was .458 which I find very funny. His slugging percentage was .909 and his wRC+ was 270.
Point being, if he swung and he was going to swing, he probably hit the ball and hard. That he batted .455 and “only” had a .412 BABIP is impressive. He also doubled once and had a .455 ISO. Not really an offensive stat – besides walking – that I can find that would not make him one of the best hitters not only on the Cardinals but in baseball for this past week.
I do have some highlights for you. Three homers means three highlights guaranteed.
Three homers, three different situations. In the first, the game was out of hand, but impressively, he still hit a home run off a left-handed pitcher. In the second, the Cardinals were down a run and the three-run homer got things started. And in the third, he started the scoring by hitting a two-run home run off another left-handed pitcher in the 1st inning on Saturday. The first one was in a location other hitters would homer in, the latest two homers however were nowhere near the strike zone. No wonder he never walks.
He also reached a career milestone, if he plays long enough, I doubt it will mean anything to him, but it is still worth sharing. He had his 300th career hit off Brady Singer in the 1st inning on Friday. It was a double. He was stranded on 2nd base, though there were already two outs.
He also played a big role in the comeback win on Saturday night and along with other hitters, I doubt the Cardinals win if he doesn’t come through. With a 5-3 deficit in the bottom of the 8th and runners on the corner and 2 outs, Burleson hit a rocket single to close the gap to 5-4. While Willson Contreras failed to do further damage, Arenado tied the game in the 9th and Yohel Pozo singled home the winning run in the 11th. That doesn’t happen without Burleson’s hit.
And would you believe I have defensive highlights?
The first one, he made a diving stop also at 1B. The second play I think most first basemen make, but he made it look pretty slick. Hey he gets some points for style. Defense isn’t really a problem for him if he’s playing 1B to be honest.