The Memphis Redbirds have won four championships since beginning play in 1998. But the franchise has never fielded a batting champion or league MVP. (Dakota Hudson won the 2018 Pitcher of the Year award for the Pacific Coast League.) Which means Alec Burleson could make some significant history here in 2022. Through Thursday’s games, the 23-year-old Redbirds outfielder is hitting .338, 27 points higher than the second-place batter in the International League. While recent teammates Brendan Donovan, Juan Yepez, and Nolan Gorman have made the leap to St. Louis and are now getting regular playing time with the Cardinals, Burleson continues to master the craft of hitting at the Triple-A level. And quite living up to his nickname: “Burly.”
Burleson emphasizes that he’s “not an analytics guy,” so even an old-school stat like batting average isn’t a motivator. But he knows the challenge of hitting a baseball consistently, and has a measured approach — it starts with a simple, gentle stance from the left side of the plate — to making life difficult for Triple-A pitchers. “Every arm we face is a big-league arm,” says Burleson. “Locking in every day on preparation, having a set approach . . . that’s huge. And sticking to [the approach]. If you stick to what you do best in the box, it puts you in the best position for success. I have the same routine, the same cage work. Trusting that — and not trying to do something different — has allowed me to have continued success this year. If something goes wrong, there’s only so much in my swing that could be off. I want to enter the box only worried about the pitch I’m going to hit, and not worried about mechanics.”
Burleson has shown power at the plate (16 home runs), and the kind that translates to big-league success. Tuesday night at AutoZone Park, Burleson drilled a three-run shot over the right-centerfield wall that proved to be the game-winner against Jacksonville. Left-handed batters who can go yard to the opposite field tend to play well into their 30s. Then there’s the homer Burleson hit June 15th against the Nashville Sounds, the first and only inside-the-park job in Redbirds history. “I didn’t know if it was going to go over the fence or not,” he says. “I saw it kick [away], and I was thinking three . . . but [Redbirds manager Ben Johnson] was shouting, ‘You gotta go.’ I thought it was going to be a close play at the plate. I was very winded, catching my breath for a couple of innings.”
Burleson credits Johnson and hitting coach Brandon Allen among a group of influences this season, and he also appreciates some wisdom received recently from big-league veteran Corey Dickerson (with the Redbirds on a rehab assignment). “Talking to him about left-on-left situations helped me a lot,” says Burleson. “He’s been in the big leagues a long time, so it’s good to hear that knowledge.”
A native of Charlotte, Burleson adopted the New York Yankees as his favorite team despite his father pulling for the Atlanta Braves. His favorite players were Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, men who earned their stripes primarily at the plate. Which makes the award Burleson won as a freshman at East Carolina in 2018 all the more surprising: American Athletic Conference Rookie Pitcher of the Year. (Burleson went 5-2 with four saves and a 3.33 ERA on the mound for the Pirates.) He smiles slightly when asked if he ever considered the Shohei Ohtani approach: pitch when you can, and hit when you’re not on the bump. “When I was drafted, it was as an outfielder,” he notes. “The bat was going to carry me to the next level. Everybody around me knew.”
The Redbirds are competing for their first postseason appearance since 2018 and their first International League championship. (Memphis competed in the Pacific Coast League through the 2019 campaign.) Through Thursday, they occupy third place in the IL’s West Division, just 2.5 games behind Nashville. Burleson describes a clubhouse that arrives at the ballpark ready to work, with Johnson’s professionalism in the manager’s office the team standard. “Ben expects a lot out of us,” he says, “to get our work done every day. That’s felt among all the guys. We want to have as much success as we can, and it’s not so much individuals. We pull for each other. It’s fun to come to the park with these guys.”
Burleson will have a hard time cracking the Cardinals’ outfield, so count on his name coming up in trade rumors this month. The 10th-ranked prospect in the St. Louis system is sure to draw attention from trade partners. But for the time being, Burly will take that gentle stance in a Redbirds uniform, and hammer baseballs toward a batting title.
