Albert Pujols. Ain't Nothin' Like Him.

I figured Albert Pujols deserved his own post because I need to go into detail into exactly what we are fortunate enough to be watching as his career plays out.

Sports Illustrated had an interesting article this week, co-written by Bill James, about the historical statistical comparison of Pujols with other all-timers. I am firmly against a lot of the stat head shit that has overtaken baseball in the last decade and absolutely loathe Moneyball (how many World Series have the A's been to in the past 15 years exactly? Zero is the answer. And the no count Marlins have won two in that time for comparison purposes) but player stats like batting average, runs scored, RBI's and HR's are timeless.

Up until the end of last year the best hitter I had ever seen (I was born in '75) was Manny Ramirez. He was a threat to win the Triple Crown every year in his '98-'05 prime (which he is past now but still rakes as well as anyone. Well, except Pujols) and I shudder to think what numbers he could have put up if he wasn't such a goddamn wingnut and had been able to concentrate 162 games a year. The thing about Manny was how he almost always got the barrel of the bat on the ball and how smart a hitter he was. He is still the only hitter I have ever seen who would work a pitcher. He would intentionally put a bad swing on a pitch in the early innings to make a pitcher think he could get one by him again later in the game. In the 7th or 8th inning the guy would throw the pitch again and Manny would hit a 3 run Homer. Manny is a lot of things but one of those things is one of the 6 or 7 best right handed hitters of all-time.

But Pujols is better. I really think he is going to win the Triple Crown this year and if he doesn't this year he will be a threat to win it every year and will win it eventually. He is only 29 and has about 5 years of prime left (baseball players primes are develop later in age than other sports and is usually from about 28-34). Even after his prime finishes he will have 5 or 6 more years, if he wants to play that long, that he can put up .315/32/110. He is going to finish with career stats that are pretty much unequaled throughout baseball history. The consistency of his first nine seasons is mind boggling and he is only getting better.

The most amazing thing to consider about his success is that he has never had another power hitter in the lineup protecting him the way Manny had with Albert Belle and Jim Thome in Cleveland and David Ortiz in Boston. Pujols walks over 90 times a year (and expect that to jump to about 120 a year for the next several) and still puts up big numbers, which makes his numbers more impressive because he makes the most of the pitches he does see.

There are two things that make this guy the best I have seen that other potential "best I have seen guys" don't have. They all share traits such as a great eye and the ability to keep their hands back even when they are fooled on a pitch and their bodies go forward. But the two things that Pujols does are a) almost never pulls off the ball resulting in hitting with power to all fields consistently and b) his bat is level no matter where the pitch is. I've never seen anyone do that. If the ball is at his knees he drops his hands to level at the knees, if it is up he keeps his hands up and level. That's why so many of his home runs look like line drives that just keep going. It's uncanny.

Manny never pulled off the ball either but his hands were often reaching for the ball and he could get away with it with brute strength. ARod pulls off the ball a lot when he is slumping. Ryan Howard goes to all fields but will never hit for the average Pujols will and strikes out too much. Those are the only three guys who have the all field power Pujols has (Bonds had all field power too. McGwire had virtually none) but none will hit for the average he will.

All you can do his admire Pujols and hope the hell the Cardinals get another 35 Home Run guy to put behind him in the lineup. Then his numbers will get even scarier.

Enjoy the show because we may never see another one like him in our lifetime. And let's just hope he faces Brad Lidge on a regular basis for the rest of his career (play it with the mute on). I still think Lidge should take out a restraining order against him.