2001–2022 · 1B

Albert Pujols

6' 3", 235 lbs·Lived to 46·Bats R / Throws R

6×Silver Slugger3×MVP2×Gold GloveROYAll-Star

Hitter archetype· CONTEXTUAL

Contact / SprayElite bat-to-ball who sprays line drives to all fields with modest power.2015–2022 · 3,013 batted balls

The Almanac's Take

Pujols delivered the most dominant debut decade in modern baseball history, posting a .331 average with 408 home runs from 2001-2010 — numbers that belonged in a video game, not real life. His 2008 campaign stands as perhaps the most complete offensive season of the 21st century, flirting with .400 while maintaining elite power.

The Dominican slugger's career arc tells two distinct stories. Those first ten seasons in St. Louis produced three MVPs and established him as the heir to Stan Musial. The Angels years revealed Father Time's cruel math, as his OPS+ dropped from superhuman levels to merely above-average. Still, 703 career home runs speaks to sustained excellence few have ever achieved.

What separated Pujols wasn't just the raw numbers but the situational brilliance — clutch hits in October, protection for teammates, and an approach that aged better than his legs. Hall of Fame voters won't need long to deliberate.

Career Highs

1.114

Best OPS · 2008

Most HR · 2006

137

Most RBI · 2006

.359

Best AVG · 2003

Career Arc · OPS

22 seasons

Statistical Comps

Vladimir Guerrero

98%

2024 season

ISO .221 · K% 13.8 · BB% 10.3 · HR% 4.3

Alex Bregman

98%

2025 season

ISO .189 · K% 14.1 · BB% 10.3 · HR% 3.6

Ketel Marte

97%

2025 season

ISO .233 · K% 14.9 · BB% 11.5 · HR% 5.0

Career · Batting

22 seasons

Year	Team	G	AB	HR	RBI	AVG	OPS	OPS+
2001	STL	161	590	37	130	.329	1.013	133
2002	STL	157	590	34	127	.314	.955	128
2003	STL	157	591	43	124	.359	1.106	147
2004	STL	154	592	46	123	.331	1.072	141
2005	STL	161	591	41	117	.330	1.039	139
2006	STL	143	535	49	137	.331	1.102	143
2007	STL	158	565	32	103	.327	.997	131
2008	STL	148	524	37	116	.357	1.114	149
2009	STL	160	568	47	135	.327	1.101	147
2010	STL	159	587	42	118	.312	1.011	139
2011	STL	147	579	37	99	.299	.906	126
2012	LAA	154	607	30	105	.285	.859	119
2013	LAA	99	391	17	64	.258	.767	107
2014	LAA	159	633	28	105	.272	.790	113
2015	LAA	157	602	40	95	.244	.787	109
2016	LAA	152	593	31	119	.268	.780	106
2017	LAA	149	593	23	101	.241	.672	90
2018	LAA	117	465	19	64	.245	.700	96
2019	LAA	131	491	23	93	.244	.734	97
2020	LAA	39	152	6	25	.224	.665	90
2021	LAD	109	275	17	50	.236	.717	99
2022	STL	109	307	24	68	.270	.895	127
Career		3080	11421	703	2218	.296	—	—

Barrel Surface

Every ball this hitter has put in play — how hard it left the bat, and at what angle. The red field behind the dots shows how much damage that kind of contact does, league-wide: the darker the red, the better things go for the hitter.

2,978 BBE · 2015–2022 · 90.0 mph avg EV · 7.6% barrels

LEAGUE xwOBA0.02.0

BATTED BALLS11025+

The field — league-average xwOBA (what a batted ball is typically worth: 0.0 is a sure out, ~2.0 a sure home run) for every exit-velocity × launch-angle combination, measured from 1.3 million regular-season balls in play since 2015. The dark ridge — balls hit 105+ mph at 25–30° — is the barrel zone, where contact becomes near-automatic extra bases.

The dots — this hitter’s career regular-season balls in play, grouped to a fine grid; a bigger dot means more batted balls at that exact combination. Dots piled onto the red ridge are damage; dots low on the pale field are weak or mishit contact. Spring training and the postseason are excluded.

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