ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Minor League Baseball is back for the first time since 2019 and the first day of games brought us an incredible catch by a St. Louis Cardinals prospect.
Although we must be careful in comparing any catch to the human highlight reel that is Cardinals great Jim Edmonds, this one by Peoria Chiefs left fielder Alex Burleson definitely compares with some of his best.
Burleson, 22, was the Cardinals second-round draft pick last year and had quite a moment in his first professional baseball game. He was on a dead sprint from right field towards the centerfield wall, then dove – fully stretched – to snag a line drive that seemed destined for extra bases.
The catch bears a bit of resemblance to the catch made by the eight-time Gold Glove winner during the 2004 NLCS:
Burleson is the No. 19 prospect for St. Louis and begins his professional career with the Cardinals High-A affiliate. He's a talent two-way player out East Carolina, where he was a 2020 First-Team All-American as a utility player.
"Burleson makes plenty of contact and while he’s been more of a gap-to-gap hitter than a home-run threat thus far, the Cardinals feel more over-the-fence power could come as he begins to focus solely on hitting, rather than on playing both ways. Even if Burleson never develops into a true masher, there is optimism that he will turn in high slugging percentages via a combination of extra-base hits," states a scouting report on him via MLB.com.
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