Albert Pujols
From BR Bullpen
Jose Alberto Pujols (Prince Albert, Phat Albert, The Machine, or El Hombre)
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 3", Weight 210 lb.
- High School Fort Osage High School
- School Maple Woods Community College
- Debut April 2, 2001
- Born January 16, 1980 in Santo Domingo, D.R.
[edit] Biographical Information
"The man is good at every little thing he does." - Mike Easler
"When that ball flew over our heads, I turned to Mike Mason, our bullpen coach, and said, 'That's why they pay that guy a hundred million bucks.' "— Ray King, watching in the bullpen when Albert Pujols hit a key post-season home run in 2005
Albert Pujols has already made a name for himself as perhaps the best player of the 2000-2010 decade. Based on the similarity scores method, the most similar player to Pujols, at age 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25, is Joe DiMaggio. At age 26, it is Jimmie Foxx. The second most similar player to Pujols, at his current age, is Frank Robinson.
Pujols won the National League MVP award in 2005 and 2008, but that shouldn't obscure the fact that he was in the top four in the MVP voting in each of 2001-2004 and 2006. He also won the Rookie of the Year award in 2001.
Born in the Dominican Republic, Pujols moved to the United States in the early 1990s. He briefly attended a Missouri community college and in 1999 was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 13th round.
The year 2000 was his only year in the minors. At age 20, he played most of the season for Peoria in the Class A Midwest League, posting .324/.389/.565 with 17 home runs. He was the league's MVP. His teammate Ben Johnson hit 13 home runs, but with a much lower batting average. Pujols then spent 21 games with Potomac in the Carolina League and 3 games with Memphis in the Pacific Coast League to finish out 2000. He hit a walkoff home run to win the PCL Championship Series for Memphis.
His major league seasons from 2001-2006 have been uniformly excellent. The lowest batting average he has posted is .314, his lowest home run total has been 34, and his lowest RBI total has been 117. He even stole 16 bases in 18 attempts in 2005.
There is no way to know what the future will bring, but after his first five years, Pujols had the fourth highest slugging percentage in the history of the game, behind Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Lou Gehrig, and ahead of Barry Bonds. Of course, those players did it over the course of a career, while Pujols still has many years to play.
If anything negative could be said about his play, it's that his range defensively could be better. However, he is a multi-position player, having appeared in left field, right field, third base, and first base during his career, and even once at shortstop in 2002. He switched largely to first base in 2004-06, and won a Gold Glove at the position in 2006.
2006 was a typical season offensively for Pujols, except his slugging was a bit better than usual. He played on the 2006 World Series winning Cardinal team, and while he hit only .200, it was a low-hitting series, with the Cardinals as a team hitting .228 and the Tigers hitting .199.
In 2006, Albert Pujols reached 2,000 career total bases in just 854 games, making him the quickest player ever to achieve that mark. The record had been 869 games by Nomar Garciaparra. He lost the 2006 NL MVP race to Ryan Howard, 388 points to 347. The Dominican Republic sports ministry arranged a news conference for Pujols, where he vented that a player from a non-playoff team should not win the MVP. It should be pointed out that Howard's team won two more games than Pujols' team and only missed the playoffs because they played in a tougher division.
Pujols hit his 300th home run on July 4, 2008. It made him the 5th-youngest player to hit 300 as he was 28 years and 170 days old, one day younger than Mel Ott. Alex Rodriguez, Jimmie Foxx, Ken Griffey Jr. and Andruw Jones had reached 300 at younger ages than Pujols.
He won his second NL MVP in 2008.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 2000 MVP Midwest League Peoria Chiefs
- 2001 NL Rookie of the Year Award
- 2001 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
- 8-time NL All-Star (2001 & 2003-2009)
- 2-time NL MVP (2005 & 2008)
- 2004 NLCS MVP
- NL Gold Glove Winner (2006/1B)
- 4-time NL Silver Slugger Award Winner (2001/3B, 2003/OF, 2004/1B & 2008/1B)
- NL Batting Average Leader (2003)
- 2-time NL Slugging Percentage Leader (2006 & 2008)
- 2-time NL OPS Leader (2006 & 2008)
- 3-time NL Runs Scored Leader (2003-2005)
- NL Hits Leader (2003)
- 3-time NL Total Bases Leader (2003, 2004 & 2008)
- NL Doubles Leader (2003)
- 20-Home Run Seasons: 8 (2001-2008)
- 30-Home Run Seasons: 8 (2001-2008)
- 40-Home Run Seasons: 4 (2003-2006)
- 100 RBI Seasons: 8 (2001-2008)
- 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 7 (2001-2006 & 2008)
- 200 Hits Seasons: 1 (2003)
- Won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006
| NL MVP | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Barry Bonds | Albert Pujols | Ryan Howard |
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
| Jimmy Rollins | Albert Pujols | tbd |
| NL Rookie of the Year | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
| Rafael Furcal | Albert Pujols | Jason Jennings |
