ECU's Alec Burleson Picked in the Second Round by St. Louis
GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina junior Alec Burleson was selected in the second round on Day 2 of the 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals (pick 70 overall).
He becomes the fourth player to be drafted in the second round or higher and is also the fourth All-American at ECU to be picked by the Cardinals joining Seth Maness (2011), Evan Kruczynski (2017) and Chris Holba (2018).
Also taken in this year's MLB Draft was 2020 signee Koen Moreno (Panther Creek HS) in the fifth round (pick 147 overall) by the Chicago Cubs.
He was named First-Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball (utility player) and earned CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-America honors. He was one of five players to start all 17 games during the shortened COVID-19 pandemic season.
Burleson was a member of a squad that posted a 13-4 record and finished ranked nationally in a pair of polls.
He was named American Athletic Conference Player-of-the-Week (March 9) and AAC Honor Roll (Feb. 24) and listed by D1Baseball as the 14th-best outfielder and 60th-best starting pitcher in their final player rankings.
Burleson stood second on the team (among full-time starters) with a .375 batting average (24-for-64), registered five extra base hits with three home runs and two doubles and drove in 12 runs while scoring 17 times. He drew eight walks while striking out just three times (multiple walks in a game three times) standing 11th nationally in toughest to strikeout (fanning just once every 21.3 at-bats).
He tallied a pair of sac hits, was 2-for-3 in stolen base attempts and did not commit an error in 71 chances registering 62 putouts and nine assists playing 3 different positions (LF, 1B and DH).
Burleson ranked among the team leaders (top five) in nine offensive categories and led the club with 17 runs scored. He registered seven multi-hit and three multi-RBI games and had a season-long eight-game hitting streak (Feb. 28-March 10) batting .516 with 3 HRs, 8 RBI and 9 runs scored.
He held opposing hitters to a .267 composite batting average, induced 22 fly balls and 22 ground outs. Ranked fourth in The American in innings pitched (23.1) and tied for third in fewest walks (4) … Earned inclusion on five preseason All-America teams as a utility player (all first-team)
The All-AAC performer started 107 of 116 playing four different positions (1B, DH, LF, RF) was named to five All-America teams (first-team: ABCA, Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball, NCBWA and Perfect Game) following sophomore season in 2019 and earned 2020 First-Team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball as a utility player
A two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America selection (third-team/2019, first-team/2020), a finalist for 2019 John Olerud National Player-of-the-Year Award and a First-Team All-South Region selection by ABCA (2019) to go along with Greenville All-Regional Team selection. He earned First-Team All-AAC honors as an outfielder and was a second-team selection as a utility player (2019).
Burleson earned First-Team Freshman All-America honors (Collegiate Baseball) in 2018 and was named American Athletic Conference Rookie Pitcher-of-the-Year.
He posted a .341 career batting average (141-for-413) which stands 11th on ECU's all-time career charts and hit 12 home runs, drove in 91 and scored 68 times to go along with 28 doubles and 205 total bases while striking out just 40 times.
Burleson fielded at a .994 clip with 416 putouts, 49 assists, while committing just three errors. He registered 43 multi-hit and 23 multi-RBI games and recorded six career game-winning RBI.
On the mound Burleson posted a 13-5 record with nine saves (10th all-time at ECU). He combined on three shutouts, appeared in 47 contests making 21 starts and allowed 61 runs (53 earned) on 130 hits in 137.2 innings for a 3.46 ERA.
Burleson struck out 139 batters while walking just 46. He held opposing hitters to a .249 career composite average … Helped ECU to 104 wins over his two-plus years and helped ECU win a pair of American Athletic Conference Championships (2018 tournament, 2019 regular season)
Part of an ECU team that won an AAC-best 20 league games in 2019, the Pirates hosted back-to-back NCAA Regionals in Greenville earning national seeds (No. 12 in 2018, No. 10 in 2019). The 2019 Regional Championship club advanced to the Louisville Super Regional.
He helped the Pirates finish first in the nation in total sacrifices (2018 and 2019) as well as leading the country in fielding percentage in 2020 before season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Burleson was named CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-America on Thursday for the second time making him one of just three Pirates to ever do so along with Cliff Godwin and Sam Narron.
