The St. Louis Cardinals entered the 2025 season with a lot of question marks.

The Cardinals didn’t trade away their top veterans to make room for younger guys. Because of this, it was always going to be hard to get at-bats for everyone. The Cardinals talked about trying to give Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman as many opportunities as possible, but things have changed. There isn’t always a ton of room for and Gorman has felt this.

Part of the reason why this is the case is because of the emergence of slugger Alec Burleson. He has been great this season but wasn't talked about much heading into the season. Walker and Gorman specifically were mentioned a lot as "runway" players but Burleson has been the best of the three and seemingly is just getting better.

Burleson has played in 66 games for the Cardinals this season and has a .314/.352/.473 with eight homers, 30 RBIs, three stolen bases, 11 doubles, and 24 runs scored. He is having one of, if not the very best month of his career as well. Burleson is slashing .391/.413/.623 with four homers and 14 RBIs in 18 games in June.

He has been so good this season that he has a chance to join some elite St. Louis company. 101 ESPN St. Louis' Brandon Kiley.

"Alec Burleson now has a 132 wRC+ on the season," Kiley said. "The list of Cardinals LHH qualified hitters with a season >30 percent above league average this century: Jim Edmonds (x6), Matt Carpenter (x3), end of list. (Brendan Donovan) also trying to join that list in ‘25."

There was a time before the season started in which Burleson wasn't really talked about at all. Now, that has completely changed. In fact, he's having one of the best offensive seasons by a Cardinals lefty in recent memory.