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November 19, 2008

On the Beat

Of MVPs and Legacy Awards

by John Perrotto

Getting Albert Pujols to talk about his personal statistics can be a difficult task. The Cardinals' first baseman will modestly reply with such tried-and-true phrases as, "the only statistic I care about is the team winning," or "I'll look at my numbers once I'm done playing." However, Pujols did talk about his numbers on Monday, after he had won his second National League Most Valuable Player award.

While Pujols wouldn't expound on the potential history he's making after putting up some of the best numbers ever posted by a player through the first eight seasons of his career, he did talk about what stats are most important to him. Pujols' preference will make statheads cringe: "The most important statistic to me is batting average." That's even though he has a .425 on-base percentage and .624 slugging percentage on his career, which tots up to a 1049 raw OPS, fifth all-time among batters with at least 5,000 plate appearances behind Babe Ruth (1164), Ted Williams (1116), Lou Gehrig (1080), and Barry Bonds (1051). "I'm proud of the fact I've hit over .300 every year in my career," Pujols said. "It's a hard thing to do over a full season, and it gets tougher every year because of all the good young pitchers coming into the league who all seem to throw 95 mph gas. When you look at what [Braves third baseman] Chipper Jones hit this year and what I hit, I really think it's a great accomplishment. It's something I really appreciate, and I think a lot of hitters appreciate."

Jones won the first NL batting title of his stellar 15-year career with a .364 average, while Pujols hit .357, two points below the career high he set in 2003. Pujols reminisced on an incident in the early days of his rookie year in 2001, when he beat out Bobby Bonilla for the final spot on the Cardinals' roster and manager Tony La Russa decided to give him a pop quiz during batting practice. La Russa asked if he would rather hit .250 with 30 home runs and 100 RBI, or .300 with 20 homers and 100 RBI. Pujols picked the .250-30-100 line and drew scorn from his veteran skipper. "It was a rookie mistake on my part," Pujols said. "Tony said it's always better to hit .300 than .250, because you're giving yourself a better chance to be productive. He's right. If you hit .300, you're going to have more RBI because you're going to drive more runners in from second base, and the more runs you score then the more games you will win. So my goal every year is to hit .300."

That is not to say Pujols is an anti-OBP guy, but he does concentrate on the walks column as the best measure of effectiveness in that area, rather than his straight on-base percentage. Beyond extending his string of .300 seasons, Pujols said that the number that meant the most to him this year was his 104 bases on balls, a career high after having walked 99 times in 2007. "You've got to take your walks, but it's hard because you want to swing the bat when you're up at the plate," Pujols said. "I think I've gotten better every year when it comes to strike-zone judgment. I'm trusting my hands more to wait that extra little bit before committing to swing. I was really disappointed last season though, when I missed 100 walks by one. That was really a goal for me. Now that I've reached 100 walks, I want to keep doing it every year."

Pujols not only set a career high in total walks, he also set one for intentional walks with 34, six more than he received in 2006. Opposing managers played the percentages when facing the Cardinals in 2008, realizing that they would have a better chance of success facing anyone but Pujols. "It doesn't get frustrating to me," Pujols said. "I understand that one man can't win a game by himself, so if that means me drawing a walk and someone else driving me in, then it's just as good as if I drive the run in."