Britain Stone. St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols. (Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports)
since Cardinals DH Albert Pujols has been incredible since early July, outpacing everyone but Aaron Judge in the OPS.
All of a sudden, Albert Pujols hit the 700-home run mark and finished his storied career.
That helps the Brewers on Sunday against a two-home run game over the weekend. That got people talking.
But don’t screw it up. Puyols is doing more than chasing career markers or putting up decent numbers for a 42-year-old. He’s actually been one of the best hitters in baseball for over a month.
NL Ranking for Best OPS since July 5th (min. 70 PA):
*1 – Albert Puyols (1.144)
2 – Austin Riley (1.112)
3 – Juan Soto (1.095)
4 – Chris Bryant(1.054)
*5 – Arenado (1.016)
6 – Freddie Freeman ( 1.007)
7 – Carson Kelly (.998) *8 – Goldie(.981)*9 – Noot (.973)#STLCards
— Brandon Kiley (@BK SportsTalk) August 15, 2022
Player since July 6th , OPS is higher than Albert Pujols:
Aaron Judge
That’s it.
— Cards Nation (@CardsNation13) August 16, 2022 Aaron Judge, who has an OPS of 1.376 since July 6, is the only player in the majors to surpass Pujols with an OPS of 1.144. Pujols outperformed Austin Riley, Juan Soto, Kris Bryant, Nolan Arenado and Freddie Freeman in this category.
Continue to hold on to the player he will retire at the end of the season (he reiterated this to Benjamin Hochman on Monday), despite growing The clearer it is that if he wants to continue beyond this year, he can. If he can do it at 42, it’s not far-fetched to imagine him doing it at 43.
When the Cardinals brought Pujols back in their final year, they probably didn’t expect they would get this version of the legendary player. He may not have reached his absurd peak, but he contributed a lot.
He now has just 11 homers under 700 and continues to buck the trend by continuing to improve his career numbers.
Can he keep it like this? It’s worth keeping an eye on St. Louis.
