Tag: Albert Pujols

Pujols sets NL assists mark

Tired of hearing about Albert Pujolsā€™ prowess with the bat?  Little exasperated with Albert Pujols leading the league in most meaningful offensive category in the NL?

Maybe this story will cheer you up (but probably wonā€™t).

Today, Pujols set the National League record for assists for a firstbaseman with 181 passing Mark Graceā€™s record set in 1990. 

In typical fashion, Pujols was quite humble, passing the credit on to his teammates:

"That’s good," Pujols said of the record. "That will tell you that our pitchers are keeping the ball down and keeping me busy at first."

ā€¦and a bit sheepish as wellā€¦

"I also made an error that cost us the game right there," Pujols said. "That’s part of the game. It just gave me a bad hop and that’s it."

Guest Blogger: Sam Panayotovich tags Pujols and Mauer for MVP

Each day this week, The Baseball Zealot will be featuring special guest bloggers who will be giving their predictions on the 2009 MLB end-of year-awards and postseason matchups.Ā  Today, Sam Panayotovich predicts the MVP awards.

samLike me, Sam Panayotovich is a University of Illinois alum.Ā  While he was a student on campus, he and I kept saying we should get together for a game or something.Ā  Well, that never happened and Sam has gone on to bigger and better things now.

I first heard Sam back when he was on Outsider Radio with Brandon Rosage.Ā  Considered an expert in NBA draft coverage, Sam made his mark with the Most Valuable Network.Ā  You can now see him covering sports for the Huffington Post and hosting a radio show at Columbia Collegeā€™s WCRX.


2009 Most Valuable Player Predictions

This season, I believe each league has a hands-down favorite for the highly-regarded MVP Award. Iā€™ve pegged a familiar face in the National League top spot and a newcomer at the front of the pack in the American League. Below you will find my projected Top 3 finishers in each league with analysis on why they finished where they did. Without further ado…

**Statistics as of Sep. 15, 2009**

National League

Albert Pujols (.329 AVG, 47 HR, 125 RBI)

It should be no surprise that baseballā€™s most dangerous hitter will claim his third Most Valuable Player Award. Pujols is one of the most disciplined hitters Iā€™ve ever seen and his ability to balance power, contact, and situational hitting is unparalleled. Whatā€™s even more disgusting is that he looked to have the first Triple Crown since Carl Yaz locked up before our second-place finisher went on a tear as the season heated up. King Albert has the Cards well on their way to another NL Central title and St. Louis has a serious shot at clinching home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Pujols leads the NL in dingers and is currently second in both batting average and runs batted in. And itā€™s scary to think how much better those numbers might have been if Matt Holliday was protecting him all season long.

Hanley Ramirez (.360 AVG, 23 HR, 99 RBI)

The former Red Sox prospect and current Marlinsā€™ shortstop has pieced together quite a season to remember in southern Florida. Ramirez is such a special talent and he possesses the perfect mix of all five tools. Heā€™s developed into one of the best contact hitters in baseball and when he puts the ball in play, you always have to account for his blazing speed. Realistically, Hanley could bat anywhere from first to fifth in the Marlinsā€™ lineup, but heā€™s been holding it down in the three hole. Heā€™s played one hell of a defensive shortstop as well to round everything out. One of the major reasons for the Marlinsā€™ push for the NL Wild Card, Hanley leads the National League in batting averageĀ  and is currently tied for fourth in RBIs.

Prince Fielder (.299 AVG, 39 HR, 126 RBI)

Usually Iā€™m not an advocate of touting players that donā€™t play for contenders, although you canā€™t ignore what the Prince is doing to National League pitching. Fielder has tremendous power to all fields and this season, heā€™s on pace to set career highs in RBIs and batting average as his .299 average is 11 points higher than his next best season. The son of Cecil, young Prince has been much more selective at the dish and his walks are up while his usually alarming strikeout total is down. He was a definite top candidate before the Brewers faded during the dog days of summer and youā€™ve got to give the Prince credit for one hell of a season.

American League

Joe Mauer (.371 AVG, 27 HR, 84 RBI)

We knew when Mauer was drafted No. 1 overall in 2001 that he was going to be a special player. However, his play this season has trumped all expectations and the 26-year-old catcher has put together the best campaign of his young career. Mauer is on pace to shatter his career highs in batting average, homers and RBIs and his leadership on and off the field is second to none. The way he has handled such a young Twinsā€™ pitching staff and continues to lead the Majors in hitting just baffles me. Sure, Justin Morneau is a monster as well, but the Twins would not be in the AL Central race if it wasnā€™t for Mauer. Heā€™s their heart. Heā€™s their soul. Heā€™s their captain.

Mark Teixeira (.285 AVG, 35 HR, 111 RBI)

Finally… a player that lived up to the billing (and the price tag) in the Bronx. Teixeira has been all that the Steinbrenners could have expected and then some. After missing the playoffs for the first time in 13 years, New York signed Tex hoping he would be the new ā€œsaviorā€ and double as a pair of broad shoulders that the Yankees could rely on as they opened up their new stadium and planned a trip back to the postseason. The switch-hitting first baseman answered the call right from the start and has been on an absolute tear all season long. Teixeira leads the American League in RBIs and is currently second in taters, and pending a late season collapse, heā€™s the main reason for the Yankees resurgence and positioning atop the AL East.

Miguel Cabrera (.332 AVG, 29 HR, 89 RBI)

Cabrera wonā€™t be a popular choice for MVP this season because of how much his power numbers have dropped off from last season, but heā€™s become a much better player overall and is the main reason for the Tigersā€™ current grasp on the AL Central lead. Miggyā€™s batting average is up 40 points from last season, his walks are up and his strikeouts are way down. He worked all offseason with his hitting coach to become a more selective hitter and all his hard work has paid off. The reigning AL Home Run King leads first place Detroit in batting average, hits, runs, homers, RBIs, on-base percentage and slugging. The power numbers might not be as impressive, but this kid deserves some serious credit for how much he has improved across the board.

A big thanks to Sam P for this write-up.Ā  The next couple days, weā€™ll look at the postseason matchups for both leagues.Ā  So far, the articles by our guest bloggers this week have been fantastic. I encourage you to check them out.

Pujols vs Chicago: Is he a Cub beater?

 

With the upcoming Chicago St Louis series almost upon us, letā€™s take a look at how Albert Pujols has done against the Cubs. 

As it is, Pujols has played pretty much the equivalent of a near-full season against Chicago.  He has 503 at-bats and 590 plate appearances versus the good guys.

How has he done?

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
138 503 92 147 25 1 39 104 6 4 72 59 .292 .385 .579 .963

 

A pretty solid ā€œyearā€ Iā€™d say though I will point out his averages are all down from his total career numbers.  Still nothing to sneeze at.  And that homerun figure of 39?  Thatā€™s the highest number heā€™s hit against any opponent.  NL Central opponents Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Houston are all very close, though.  Milwaukee, however has only surrendered 26 to Albert.

For what itā€™s worth, his Wrigley numbers are .282/.369/.563. 

Should they walk Pujols with bases loaded?

For those who havenā€™t noticed, Albert Pujols has done amazingly well with the bases loaded this year.  Here are his stats with three runners on.

At this point in the season, Pujols is five for five with 3 homeruns and 16 rbis.  Yikes!

If you believe in such stats, some of his other clutch stats are not as juicy, though.  Interestingly, he is only 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position with two outs.

just how good could Albert be?

Offensively, Albert Pujols pretty much single-handedly won the game for the Cardinals today against the Indians.  They had some good pitching from Brad Thompson and their committee of relievers they trotted out there who kept Cleveland to just one run. 

But Pujols went 3 for 4 with a double and two homeruns.  That gives him 22 for the year.  If you take the trouble to pro-rate that out for 2009, he would have somewhere around 57 homeruns at this pace.  That would eclipse his current career record by eight. 

I was playing APBA baseball against my buddy Mike, who is a Cardinal fan while watching todayā€™s game.  We talked a bit about Pujolsā€™ future and even hypothetically wondered to ourselves, ā€œstill in his 20s, would Albert get in the Hall if he retired today?ā€

Putting aside the 10 year requirement, you really could have a case.  With 341 homers, 1304 rbis, 997 runs and a .334 batting average, those numbers put him up there.  His rbi numbers are already above the average HOFer though admittedly Evers, Maranville and company do adjust the curve a bit. 

But Pujols wonā€™t retire and at age 29, he does have the potential to break some serious records. 

Food for thought.

Disclaimer:  donā€™t get the wrong ideaā€¦ the author is a Cub fan

Who wants Manny?

Apparently, there was a small rally of Mets fans outside Radio City who were calling for the signing of Manny Ramirez.  According to Matt Cerone of Metsblog, it was organized via messageboards and was billed as a Bring Manny to the Mets Rally”.

Deep in the heartland, Albert Pujols had other ideas.  He’s actually been in contact with Manny “every three days” and wants him on the Cardinals. 

“Maybe St. Louis doesn’t have the money to sign him, but he could give them a discount because St. Louis is a great city that supports its players,” Pujols said.

haha!  Yeah, that’ll happen. 

St Louis IS a great baseball town, though.  I’ll give him that.

NL Gold Gloves announced

The NL Gold Glove awards were announced yesterday.

Not a lot of surprises.  Maddux won his 18th award in the year he plans to retire.  Rollins, Beltran, and somehow David Wright seemed to sneak in there again.  Nate McLouth won his first Gold Glove and first Pirate to do so since 1993 when Jay Bell did so.

I admit I’m not familiar with Adrian Gonzalez’ fielding exploits at first base.  Is he REALLY all that better than NL competition at his position?  Considering who’s out there, I wonder.  Except for first base, every NL player who won the Fielding Bible Award, also won a Gold Glove.  Albert Pujols won a FBA at first this year.

Aram and the Hank Aaron Award

When I heard Aramis Ramirez won the Hank Aaron Award, I thought "That’s nice… for what?"  

As a Cub fan as much as it pains me, I’ll link to an article by Justin Gibson of the St Louis Sports Examiner who admittedly makes a good point:

Ramirez winning the award is as big of a joke as Cubs outfielder Kosuke Fukudome’s 2008 All-Star selection. Is Ramirez a great hitter? Absolutely — but not the top, or near it.

Especially when compared to St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols.

In one less game, Pujols hit for a .068 higher batting average than Ramirez, as well as 10 more home runs, five more RBI’s, 30 more walks, a higher OBP of .082 and a higher slugging average of .135 — all while striking out 40 fewer times.

Gibson goes on comparing stat by stat how much better Pujols is.  Okay, we get it.  I don’t anyone is going to argue with you.  Except the thousands that voted for Ramirez.

The problem is with the plethora of these corporate awards set up by MLB (the Hank Aaron Award is sponsored by Century 21 Real Estate) that have little meaning other than to bring good PR to the corporations. 

Unless you believe what Bud Selig says, "The Hank Aaron Award is on a par with the Cy Young and the MVP." 

Oh really?

Pujols 8 for 8 in 100 rbi seasons… but the Cards still fall to Cubs

Albert Pujols:  1 for 5, 2B, run, rbi

Eight 100 rbi seasons to begin his career

Albert had what should had been a memorable game.  I guess it was but not for the reasons it he’d like it to be. 

In the sixth inning against the Cubs, Albert Pujols hit an rbi double.  That rbi put him precisely at 100 for the season and he’s now had eight consecutive seasons where he’s reached that mark since he’s come to the bigs. 

Unfortunately, the press won’t be talking about that so much.  Pujols made a costly error which turned a potential DP into a 2-0 Cubs lead. 

In addition, Pujols popped up to end the game against the Cubs, who eventually won the game 3-2.  That reminds of a kid cartoon I saw was a child.  I think it was a "Tiger" comic.  The kids were playing a baseball game and the first kid is up and swings, "Steeerike Three!  Yeeer Out!"  The second kid is up.  "Steeerike Three!  Yeeer Out!".  Then Tiger is up.  "Steeerike Three!  Yeeer Out!  Game Over!"  In the final frame of the cartoon, the first two kids look at Tiger and say in unison, "It’s your fault we lost!". 

Ok, not so funny but it makes a point.  Winning is a team effort and though the Cardinals as a team only scored two runs, Pujols (literally) makes headlines for making the last out.

By the way, Albert’s in pretty good company with his eight season record.  Only Al Simmons and Ted Williams have accomplished that.  Simmons streak extended to eleven years.