Pujols Turnaround

Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo are having remarkable seasons for the Angels but what about Albert Pujols? His poor start was well documented. What has happened since his poor start?

About the same time Plouffe began turning around his season, Albert Pujols was doing the same. In the past 62 games, Pujols has hit .326/.404/.622/1.027. If his final 62 games match the previous 62 here is how he'll end up:

Split	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
< May 16	36	153	146	10	31	8	0	1	14	7	18	0	0	.212	.248	.288	.536
>= May 16	62	272	233	43	76	18	0	17	49	32	29	7	1	.326	.404	.622	1.027
Projection	62	272	233	43	76	18	0	17	49	32	29	7	1	.326	.404	.622	1.027
Total	160	697	612	96	183	44	0	35	112	71	76	14	2	.299	.370	.542	.913

The Angels were 16-21 (.432) through May 15 and 39-24 (.619) since. If they continue at the .619 pace, they will end up with 94 wins.

How does Pujols compare to Trout and Trumbo since his turnaround?

Player	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Pujols	62	272	233	43	76	18	0	17	49	32	29	7	1	.326	.404	.622	1.027
Trumbo	63	269	250	35	75	9	3	21	53	17	53	3	3	.300	.346	.612	.958
Trout	63	290	259	64	94	15	5	13	41	25	51	28	3	.363	.421	.610	1.031
Average		277	247	47	82	14	3	17	48	25	44	13	2	.330	.391	.615	1.006

What will always get me about Pujols is that he still can get up and give you double-digit steals every single year. It is remarkable to me.

Although it was hard to see Albert leave St. Louis (as the Cards are my NL team). I never had any doubts that he wouldn't suck all year. Maybe his best years are behind him, but I still see him hitting .300 and hitting 35ish HR's for the next 2-3 years. Pujols is the best player of this generation of Major League Baseball. If Pujols is indeed 32 years old, he is the last chance we will have for awhile to break the All-Time HR mark and make that designation legitimate again. Here's hoping to that!

I just realized that Albert is going to need a monster last third of the season if he's going to continue his 30 HR streak.

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Originally Posted by rocketpig

I just realized that Albert is going to need a monster last third of the season if he's going to continue his 30 HR streak.

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Even with his terrible slow start, he is pretty much on pace for 30 homers (18 homers in 100 Angels' games = 29.2 homers per 162 Angels' games). To get to 30, he needs to hit 12 in the final 62 games, a pace of 31.4 per 162. Unless he gets hurt, that would be a pretty good bet.

Thanks for the info. I have Pujols and Trumbo on my fantasy team.

I think you need to post his projected year end stats.

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Originally Posted by powrwrap

Thanks for the info. I have Pujols and Trumbo on my fantasy team.

I think you need to post his projected year end stats.

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You mean the ones in the initial post?

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Originally Posted by FrodaddyG

You mean the ones in the initial post?

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That is "season end" dumba**.

maybe there's some sort of unproven link between pujols and plouffe...

In all seriousness, Pujols has started out slow the last couple of years... it seems each year he starts out slow and picks up... the problem is that it's been taking longer each year for it to happen... Me thinks the Angels are going to be hating this contract in 3 years...

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Originally Posted by diehardtwinsfan

maybe there's some sort of unproven link between pujols and plouffe...

In all seriousness, Pujols has started out slow the last couple of years... it seems each year he starts out slow and picks up... the problem is that it's been taking longer each year for it to happen... Me thinks the Angels are going to be hating this contract in 3 years...

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If not three, they'll be hating it not long thereafter.

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Originally Posted by rocketpig

If not three, they'll be hating it not long thereafter.

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And it's not just the Pujols contract, although that is certainly the worst of the bunch. They already have $70-90 million per year committed through 2016 for 6 players. At this point most of those players are playing well but four and a half more years is a LONG time. I guess the one saving grace is most of those contracts will just be coming off the books when Trumbo and Trout are becoming FA eligible.

Angels have played 42 games since OP. Projecting Pujol's stats for final 20 games using the past 42 yields this:

Split	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Before May 16	36	153	146	10	31	8	0	1	14	7	18	0	0	.212	.248	.288	.536
Between May 16 and July 28	62	272	233	43	76	18	0	17	49	32	29	7	1	.326	.404	.622	1.027
Between July 28 and Sep 11	37	163	153	26	45	16	0	11	32	7	19	1	0	.294	.331	.614	.946
Projection of post Sep 11	18	79	74	13	22	8	0	5	16	3	9	0	0	.297	.325	.608	.933
Projected Total	153	667	606	92	174	50	0	34	111	49	75	8	1	.287	.343	.538	.881

Man I wish we would have taken Trout instead of Gibson

The most interesting part about his line this year to me is his bb/k rate. He's basically been a 1/1 guy most of his career, and while his strikeout number isn't high this year, having a near 1/2 bb/k rate this year is an interesting change for him. I'd want to see how his second year in a new league goes before predicting his decline, but that's definitely not an encouraging sign.

His BB:K rate is closer to 1:1 than it is to 1:2.

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Originally Posted by snepp

His BB:K rate is closer to 1:1 than it is to 1:2.

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I was looking with the projections. Currently, he's about a 2/3 bb/k, which isn't bad, but it's still not close to his career, which was 4/3.

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Originally Posted by biggentleben

The most interesting part about his line this year to me is his bb/k rate. He's basically been a 1/1 guy most of his career, and while his strikeout number isn't high this year, having a near 1/2 bb/k rate this year is an interesting change for him. I'd want to see how his second year in a new league goes before predicting his decline, but that's definitely not an encouraging sign.

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The first thing I noticed when I did the update was that he only walked 7 times in the last split. Combining that with the start of the season split, Pujols walked 14 times in 316 PA or a 4.4% rate. Ben Revere has walked at a 4.8% rate. For the record, Revere walked 9 times during the time period of the last split.

Pujols did have a better than 1:1 ratio during the 62 game stretch in the middle though.

Aaaaaaand he's at 30 homers. The streak is alive.

500th double tonight, tying him with John Olerud and Goose Goslin for 55th all time. The all time leader with 792, in case you're wondering, is Tris Speaker

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...peaktr01.shtml