The English victim and future Hall of Famer, Albert Pujols, is entering his 21st MLB season and the last year of the ten-year $ 240 million contract he signed with the Englishman in 2011. Last week, Pujols said he was unsure about what his baseball future was. would look like the MLB season in 2021. On Monday, however, his wife, Deidre, sparked retirement speculation after she shared it an Instagram message indicating that her husband would retire after the upcoming campaign.
The report originally said:[Monday] is the first day of the last season of one of the most remarkable professions in sports. ‘The report has been updated to say that it was’ not an official statement’ of retirement. Pujols spoke to ESPN’s Enrique Rojas on Monday night, saying “nothing has changed” since addressing his playing future last week.
Here is the Instagram post:
Pujols, who turned 41 last month, is already considered one of the best hits in the history of baseball, and although his power production has deteriorated as he gets older, he will still have the chance to leave his legacy in the MLB season. to increase in 2021. – and possibly further. In 2020, Pujols scored .224 / .270 / .395 (80 OPS +) with eight doubles, six home runs and 25 RBI.
Despite the 60-game season, Pujols managed to reach a few career milestones. He overtook Willie Mays on the everyday home race list to take fifth place in the shortened season with his 661st home run in his own possession. The only players in Major League history with more home runs than Pujols are now Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Alex Rodriguez (696).
Pujols also overtook Alex Rodriguez on MLB’s overall RBI list to have the exclusive second-place finish during the shortened 2020 season. Only the legendary Hank Aaron, who recorded 2,297 RBI in 23 seasons, now faces Pujols. However, it should be noted that MLB does not count RBI before 1920, as it was not yet an official statistic. Both Babe Ruth (2,214 RBI) and Cap Anson (2,075 RBI) are in the 2,000 RBI club if you count the statistics before 1920.
During the past four seasons, Pujols has owned a .242 / .291 / .406 (87 OPS +) batting line-up in more than 1,800 record appearances. For Pujols’ career line, it is .299 / .377 / .546 (146 OPS +) with 3,236 hits, 662 home runs and 2,100 RBI. In ten of his 17 major league seasons, Pujols has reached 30 or more home games, although he has not beaten more than 23 home runs since 2016. At his peak, he was one of the biggest hits ever, although he has not been the player for several years now. In the last few years he has mostly served with the Angels as their designated hitter.