Milestone Slam

Albert Pujols hit his 600th home run Saturday night, and he did it with some flair:

Some players crawl toward their milestones and touch them with fingertips stretched, like exhausted marathoners.

Albert Pujols made this one look like an errand.

With bases loaded against Minnesota’s Ervin Santana, who has been one of baseball’s best pitchers this year, Pujols took a tight, controlled swing in the fourth inning Saturday and followed through with full extension.

It helped that Santana’s 87 mph slider hovered at the equator of the plate, but the top hitters leave no mistake unpunished. It was like most home runs, a fly ball that never quite came down, and Pujols looked at it stonily before taking the 600th trot of his career.

When he crossed the plate, he did his usual double-point to the sky and clapped his hands, but now he was hugged by Ben Revere, with Eric Young Jr. and Kole Calhoun waiting. They were all on base for Pujols, who became the first to make his 600th a grand slam.

At fitting moment for the superstar of the 21st century. Pujols’s career started in 2001, the first year of the 21st century. He was an immediate MVP candidate and made St. Louis a powerhouse.

Unfortunately, that career is fading. While he is still generating home runs and RBI, it is coming at a higher cost as his OBP continues to drop. If you look at his splits from 2015 on, Pujols appears to be saving himself for runners in scoring position situations. It’s not a bad strategy given his abilities, only going all out when runs are on the line. At some point, however, the outs may become too costly. I suspect the Angels might take the hit on his contract before the ten years are up.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2ryBR74