The Cardinals announced a series of roster moves today, placing outfielder Dylan Carlson on the 10-day injured with a left thumb sprain. His spot on the roster has gone to fellow outfielder Alec Burleson. Since Burleson wasn’t previously on the 40-man roster, outfielder Conner Capel has been designated for assignment to open a spot.
Burleson, 23, was selected by the Cardinals 70th overall in the 2020 draft. There were no minor leagues for him to play in that year due to the pandemic, but he took off in 2021. He started in High-A and mashed his way up to Double-A after just 11 games. In 63 games with the Springfield Cardinals, he hit .288/.333/.488, producing a wRC+ of 116. That was enough to get him up to Triple-A for the end of the season, his third level of the year.
While Burleson struggled in his first taste of Triple-A, he’s dominated here in 2022. In 109 games with the Memphis Redbirds, he’s hit 20 home runs while striking out in only 14.3% of his plate appearances. His slash line on the year is .331/.372/.532, leading to a wRC+ of 138.
Thanks to his strong performance in the minors, Burleson has been creeping up prospect lists since his draft. Last year, Baseball America ranked him the #26 prospect in the Cards’ system, before bumping him up to #10 at the start of this year and #4 at the midseason update. BA also considers him the #66 prospect in the entire league.
As for Carlson, it’s unclear when or how he sustained his injury, as he entered last night’s game in the eighth inning as a pinch hitter. The club has not yet provided any information on how long they expect him to be out. He’s hitting .240/.316/.386 for the year, producing a wRC+ of 102. He’s played mostly center field this season but has seen Tyler O’Neill take over the bulk of the playing time up the middle lately. Burleson has mostly played left field in the minors, with a bit of time in right as well. He’ll try to replace Carlson’s bat and take some corner outfield time but likely won’t be an option in center, leaving that spot for O’Neill and Ben DeLuzio.
As for Capel, 25, he was drafted by Cleveland but came to the Cardinals in the 2018 trade that sent Oscar Mercado the other way. He was selected to the big league roster for the first time this June, producing a tepid batting line in a tiny sample of just 19 plate appearances. In 87 Triple-A games, he’s hit .258/.361/.425 for a 112 wRC+. He’s shown strong work at the plate in that stretch, striking out in just 16.4% of his plate appearances while walking in 13.3% of them. He’s also popped 1o homers and stolen 19 bases.
Despite some signs of optimism there, it seems Capel has been nudged out of the plans in St. Louis. Since the trade deadline has passed, the Cards will place him on outright waivers or release waivers in the coming days. Given his full slate of options and limited service time, he could prove to be an intriguing option for the 29 other clubs.
Burleson welcome to the majors.
Finally we get to see what Burleson has.
Finally? Burleson was drafted 2 years ago, missed his rookie year because of the lockdown, and moved up 3 levels last year. I think the kid is ready but I understand why the cards waited to add him. Sometimes it’s good for prospects to overcome adversity at the minor league level.
Finally as in should have been up ahead of Capel earlier this year.
see what you have in the less highly regarded guys first. maybe one of them finds his swing at the right time and surprises you, if not your prospects get a little bit more development time and you move on. its not like capel was soaking up burleson’s opportunity; he has 19 pas
I see your point. I’ve clearly never managed a team or system so that though never crossed my mind.
I don’t like the two of you getting along, being nice and having a constructive discussion. More name calling and disrespect. Let’s go!
Cards should bring me back
They don’t have any future Cy Young candidates left to trade for you again.
What do you and your avatar have in common? You both should be locked up!
When one bust gets hurt, the other bust comes up. The cardinal way
Seriously dude?
You say their prospects are busts in one message, then say they had multiple Cy Young’s in the next. Help me out. I’m perplexed.
I’ve been looking forward to him being called up. Hopefully Carlson isn’t down too long either.
Happy for Burleson but sucks for Capel, surely he will get claimed
Related to Rick Burleson?
Carlson has been such a disappointment in the majors thus far
Relax, Carlson is still young and his advance metrics tell a different story. His OPS+ is 105 in his career so far and he’s a plus defender.
His production is similar to a young Christian Yelich before Milwaukee. I’m not saying that’s his peak, but you never know. Being patient hurts no one. He’s under team control for another 4 years. A lot can happen in that time.
Carlson is 23 and has been in the league two full seasons. I wouldn’t say he’s young anymore, not regarding baseball skills. With the way they train now, it’s a younger game. If he was going to be something special like Mozalak has hung his hat on, he would have showed it by now. He’s a merely average player. He reminds me of Stephen Piscotty, which is fine, but by no means untouchable for trades. Carlson hasn’t seen much playing time in a while, this seems like a fake injury to get him down to the minors.
Took a few years for O’Neil and Bader to figure things out. Not that either of them have become All Stars (we’ll see if O’Neil can reproduce 2021 again at any point), but I don’t think Carlson has peaked.
Most players in the majors in today’s game aren’t even making their major league debut until they’re 24 or 25. Being critical of a player at the age of 23 with 2+ years of playing time shows he’s clearly ahead of the development curve. Even if he’s average right now its better than most, which his metrics clearly show he’s better than average.
Comparing him to Piscotty isn’t really a viable option. First, Piscotty didn’t even make his major league debut until he was almost 25, a full 2 years further along than Carlson now. Second, Piscotty was a good defender but Carlson is something far more valuable in baseball now, he’s a switch hitter. And third, Piscotty’s personal situation with his mother played a huge factor in his turbulent production.
The truth is, they need to see what they got with Burleson. Somebody has to sit for now. It’s not going to be O’Neill, Nootbaar, or Dickerson. There’s just not enough at bats to go around. Carlson will likely be back after they clinch by mid September.
Just 61 players are on MLB rosters born before Carlson. That’s 6% of MLB rosters.
Carlson is definitely still young.
From a True Brewer fan: Do not pick on Carlson. He has future star wriiten all over him! Bank on it!
Even if he doesn’t develop any further, league average hitting outfielders with good defense don’t grow on trees.
I am relaxed big dawg all i said was thus far.. i don’t know if thats true, your assertion that most players in the game today don’t make their mlb debut until 24 or 25. Let’s look at some recent names here – josh Jung, Nolan Gorman, matthew liberatore, wander Franco, j-rod, Bobby Witt, acuna, Soto, Guerrero jr., tatis, soroka, Flaherty, walker buehler, the braves middle infielder its pretty much everyone who is good in the game right now. in fact i would say its an outlier to be older or even at 24 and promoted right now (at least with obtaining a prospect pedigree those names would be rusctman (who played college and lost a year in 2022) and josh Lowe)
Cj Abrams, McKenzie gore,
The names you’re putting out there are the absolute best prospects in the game. These players are clearly ahead of the curve. For every one Carlson that makes it to the bigs for the first time at 21, you have 5 to 10 other guys debuting at 24, 25 and sometimes even older. If you don’t believe me, go to baseball reference and look up players debuting in 2022.
If you’re disappointed in Carlson’s production so far then I hate to see how long of a leash you give Jordan Walker if he makes the club out of spring training next year. It takes time, sometimes years. Kolton Wong took a solid 5 years before he peaked. Food for thought.
Household names that are going to be regulars in the mlb a lot of these guys (most of these guys) are coming up before they are 24. A leash of 3 years for Walker – is that long enough for you, no, okay, 5 years.. and it sounds like you are insinuating he will play bad in those three years – what is big bad ol Michael drake going to do about that with him and his leash i give him?
Have every right to be disappointed. When the organization tries to sell you the hype, there are expectations attached. “Would have to pry him from my cold, dead hands” that’s the quote from Mozalak when asked about possibility of trading Carlson a few years ago. And then this year Carlson is untouchable, even for Soto. So when your merely a league average player, there is reason to be unimpressed. League average is fine, but never memorable and extremely interchangeable. Your also clearly a blind cardinal fan, I’m a fan too, watch every game but not drunk. It took a while for Wong to peak – I blinked and missed it. He was just another forgettable player. Bader, well he just sucks. O’Neil, he wasn’t able to repeat anywhere close this season. Lots of players have one really good season in there otherwise vanilla career. Please don’t reply with “but there defense is what makes them special”. The minors and beer league players who are phenomenal defenders. The difference is they can’t hit. Wong and Bader are just the slightly better than those guys. Again, there is nothing wrong with being an average players. The league needs them. But the new superstars of the game are here and almost all came up and we’re dominating by 23. Carlson’s ceiling is lucky to reach Colby Rasmus, never close to JD Drew, but again most like Piscotty.
How much post season experience do those guys have? How much experience did Arozarena have a few years ago? He provides more pop off the bench then those others.
266 players have debuted in the major leagues as of yesterday. 209 of those players were older than Dylan Carlson right now. Of those 266 players debuting, 201 were older than 24.
Point: Dylan Carlson still has plenty of room to grow and he’s done most of his learning at the major league level. I never said he was bad, I’ve vehemently defended his progress. Is he going to be an all star caliber player? No one knows yet.
If you want to be disappointed, be disappointed. I’m a Cardinal fan, I’m
pulling for him, not against him.
I learned a long time ago to not put unrealistic expectations on players. I also know some fans are never happy.
And how many of those were pitchers? Aside from Ohtani, I don’t consider pitchers superstars of the game. They also take longer to develop. 23 is not young anymore for position players. It’s the age where you are either already up or the organization doesn’t have plans for you. And if your going to be an elite player, your kicking into high gear at 23 if not before. There are of course roster fill ins that make there debut and are quickly sent down to never be heard of again. Especially relief pitchers. And after two full seasons, you pretty much are what your going to be as a hitter.
And only about 30 of those 201 names are relevant and about half of them had just turned 24
I would indeed be disappointed if Carlson wound up like Piscotty, since Piscotty’s career crashed and burned after his first 3 or so years. Colby Rasmus or J.D. Drew are much more likely comparisons.
Even just becoming another Bader who’s not as fast and not quite as good on defense would be acceptable, although the hope is that his bat will still develop beyond what it is now.
As for Wong and Bader, the difference between them and AAA defenders who can’t hit is that they can indeed hit well enough to post league average offensive numbers, which combined with their Gold Glove defense makes them pretty good overall players and well ahead of someone like Billy Hamilton.
Interesting that they bypassed Juan Yepez here
My assumption is that Burleson brings more flexibility in the outfield. Yepez is essentially a right handed DH and I don’t see him taking at bats away from Albert Pujols these last couple weeks.
Is Burleson’s better defense worth possibly losing Capel, though?
I mean…I suppose we have to consider what is Capel’s upside. Does he have a clear future with the team? He’s not a great defender and his future as a DH is clouded by Yepez, Donovan, Gorman etc.
With Burleson getting his shot and Jordan Walker coming on in RF at Springfield, its hard to determine where he belongs. Had he not been brought up, he would have likely been Rule 5 material.
If O”Neil is in center every day for now, they should platoon Yepez in left with Dickerson. Noot seems to have RF locked down for the time being.
I hate to lose Capel, but I hope he gets an opportunity somewhere else. I’m looking forward to seeing Burleson play.
The timing is really unfortunate, this move one week ago meant they could have had Burleson on the post season roster.
He’s too inexperienced to put on the postseason roster ahead of any of O’Neill, Nootbaar, Carlson, Dickerson, and Donovan, anyway.
He can still be on the postseason roster as long as he’s in the organization. There is an injury replacement loophole.
Good point Donny, although I believe you have to be on the 40 Man prior to September 1st.
Hot dog!
What the hell happened to Yepez?
Yepez is a right handed DH. I don’t think he’s going to be splitting at bats with Pujols. He does look promising for next year though.
I think he could play left field against lefties. Throw in a defensive replacement in the late innings.
I think the answer to that question is Burleson. He doesn’t need a defensive replacement either. I just don’t think Yepez has any at bats he can snag with Pujols hitting lefties as a DH or trying to get at bats from Nootbaar, O’Neill, Dickerson, Burleson and eventually Carlson again.
And no knock on Yepez, but they’ve made they’re greatest strides this season without him. I do believe he’ll factor in way more in 2023. At best he’s a pinch hitter currently.
We don’t know if Burleson can hit in the majors yet, though. Yepez hit 11 homers in 63 games.
Agreed, but the only way they find out if he can play is by giving him his shot. It’s obviously no insult to Yepez, I think his set of skills are being used by Pujols at the moment. That’s just my observation on what is happening.
I gotcha. I don’t think you’re wrong, I just think we have proof of concept with Yepez.
Moises Gomez deserved a promotion too, but I get the Memphis is still playing games
Response: Old 80s basketball chant: It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter! for Now! Hope you get him back for the playoffs. Do you guys wish you had a healthy Bader? I think so!
My no no above were a response to Carlson being a bad player at ML level. Please excuse my computer skills.
A healthy Bader would be nice, but he’s not healthy, and the trade for Montgomery has worked out quite well so far.
Facts! I would of still made that trade 10 out of 10 times.
I had the pleasure of watching Burleson play as a two-way player in college. He’s a well-grounded dude with a great work ethic. He was a decent pitcher and played for Team USA as two-way player. His best position is batters box, but is a serviceable corner outfielder with a good arm. Burleson can also play 1B if he’s ever needed to fill in for Goldschmidt. Very good hitter that doesn’t strike out a ton, and makes hard contact. I saw him play in an AAA game this season, and he ripped a double so hard, the lady behind me gasped at the sound of the ball hitting his bat. Points of concern would be that he’s kind of a slow runner, and he has difficulty hitting the the high heat at the very top of the strike zone. A lot of guys have trouble up there though. To his credit, Burleson doesn’t normally chase pitches out of the zone. Long-term, Burleson should be a solid 5th or 6th hitter in the lineup that can hit 3rd or 4th occasionally. I wouldn’t doubt him being the Cardinals primary DH next season…