Albert Pujols
Albert Pujols is by far the greatest active player in baseball, and ranks among the all-time greats in many statistical categories, even if his glory years are behind him now.
Pujols was on the Cardinals' opening day roster in 2001, and the rookie did not disappoint. He set an NL rookie record with 130 RBI and led the Cardinals with 37 home runs, which earned him the unanimous Rookie of the Year award, and a 4th-place finish in the MVP race.
In his second season, he became the first player in history to hit .300 with 30 home runs, 100 runs, and 100 RBI's in each of his first 2 seasons, and he ended up doing it in each of his first 6 seasons. He finished as the MVP runner-up that season, with Barry Bonds beating him in the vote, which would be a common occurrence in his career.
In 2003, he won the batting title with a .359 average, along with league leads in hits, doubles, and runs scored, and finished as MVP runner-up to Bonds yet again. He also became only the second Cardinal ever to have 40 homers and 200 hits in a season, joining Rogers Hornsby.
In 2004, he became only the third player to reach 500 career RBI's in his 4th season, joining Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. He finished in 3rd place in the MVP vote, making him the second Cardinal ever to finish in the top 5 for 4 straight seasons, joining Stan Musial. He hit .500 with 4 home runs, 10 runs scored, and 9 RBI in the NLCS, earning the series MVP, but they were swept by the Red Sox in the World Series.
In 2005, he finally won his first MVP when Barry Bonds missed most of the season due to injury. His season stats were nearly identical to each of the previous 2 years, but that was enough this time. The Cardinals also made the playoffs again, and Pujols hit .556 in the first round, but his .304 average in the NLCS wasn't enough for a return trip to the World Series.
In 2006 he hit 49 home runs, the best of his career, and 20 of those were game winners, which broke Willie Mays' record set in 1962. That continued in the playoffs, with 2 more game-winning homers, one in Game 1 of the NLDS, and another in Game 1 of the World Series, and the Cards won the title over the Tigers in 5 games, giving Pujols his first championship.
After a slightly down season in 2007, he bounced back in 2008, taking home his second MVP, then repeated in 2009, when he had his best overall season and led the league in home runs and on-base percentage for the first time each. His third MVP tied Stan Musial for the most in Cardinals history, and was his first won by unanimous vote.
In 2010, he reached 400 career home runs, becoming the third-youngest player to reach that milestone, behind Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr. He also reached 100 RBI for the 10th straight year, a streak which trails only the 11 by Al Simmons as the most to start a career, and he finished as the MVP runner-up for the 4th time in his career.
In 2011, he failed to bat .300 for the first time in his career, ending up at .299 with 99 RBI, falling just short of reaching those milestones for the 11th straight year. He was great in the playoffs, especially in the NLCS, when he hit .478 with 9 RBI to lead the Cardinals to another World Series. In Game 3, he became the third player ever to hit 3 home runs in a World Series game, joining Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson on that exclusive list, and ended up taking home his second career title.
After that season, he was a free agent for the first time in his career, and he elected to sign with the Los Angeles Angels. He has played well since joining the Angels, but nowhere near the superstar level he had grown accustomed to in Saint Louis, but he has reached several big career milestones in Los Angeles.
He hit his 500th home run in 2014, becoming the third-youngest to reach that mark as well. In 2016, he became the second player to reach 300 intentional walks in his career, joining Barry Bonds, and later passed Mark McGwire for 10th place on the all-time home run leaderboard. In 2017 he reached 600 home runs, the 9th ever to do so, and was the first ever to reach that total on a grand slam.
Though stats for the 2018 season have not been included in this ranking, it's worth noting that Pujols reached 3000 hits earlier this season, making him the 4th player ever with 600 home runs and 3000 hits, joining Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron. He is the active leader in runs scored, doubles, home runs, RBI's, walks, and total bases, and is among the top 10 all-time in home runs, doubles, total bases, and RBI's, and is definitely one of the greatest players of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment