Albert Pujols joins elite company on home run list; how high can he go?
When he blasted his first homer of the season on Wednesday night, Albert Pujols climbed another rung on the all-time home run list and joined some pretty elite company. Home run No. 521 moved him into a tie for 18th place, along with Hall of Famers Willie McCovey, Frank Thomas and Ted Williams. Not bad for a former 13th-round draft pick.
Up next on the list are Jimmie Foxx and Mickey Mantle, both of whom Pujols could pass this year. Though Pujols’ numbers have declined slightly since joining the Angles on a 10-year deal in 2012, he still has a very good chance to be among the elite home-run hitters of all-time. Count on Pujols becoming the ninth member of the 600 home-run club some day.
Pujols, 35, is coming off a season in which he played 159 games and hit 28 home runs. Fangraphs’ 2015 pre-season projection called for 25 home runs, meaning he would need just over three seasons at that same pace to hit 79 more home runs and reach 600. Pujols is signed through 2021 when he will be 41 years old. What are his chances of getting to 700 home runs? Dayn Perry of CBS Sports did the complicated math last season:
“The first run through the Favorite Toy gave Pujols an average of 26.7 homers per season over the remainder of his career. So let’s use that figure — 27 — to build outward and try to get the system to peg his likely retirement date of post-2021.
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Under those parameters, the Favorite Toy projects Pujols for 699 career homers and gives him a 49 percent chance of reaching 700.”
Pujols was the third-youngest player ever to reach 500 home runs, and is one of only two active players in the 500 home-run club, the other being Alex Rodriguez.
More fun Pujols home run facts: He has hit more home runs on the road (282) than at home (239). He has homered against 333 different pitchers and in 37 different ball parks. He does most of his damage early in the count: he has 75 homers in 1-1 counts, 71 in 1-0 counts, 68 on the first pitch of the at-bat, and just six homers in 3-0 counts.
Regardless of where he ends up on the all-time list, fans should appreciate that we’re getting to see one of the finest hitters ever each time he comes to the plate. And if that’s not enough to get you to tune into Angels games, he’s got a teammate who’s worth watching as well.
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Ian Denomme is an editor and writer for Yahoo Sports. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.
