Angels slugger and future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols is entering his 21st MLB season and the final year of the $ 240 million contract he signed with the Angels in 2011. Last week, Pujols said he was not sure what his baseball future would look like after the MLB 2021 season. On Monday, however, his wife, Deidre, sparked retirement speculation after she shared an Instagram post indicating that her husband would retire after the next campaign.
The post originally stated “[Monday] it is the first day of the last season of one of the most notable careers in the sport. “The post was updated to say it was” not an official statement “of retirement. Pujols spoke to ESPN’s Enrique Rojas on Monday night, saying” nothing has changed “since he talked about his future as a player last week. .
Here’s the Instagram post:
Pujols, who turned 41 last month, is already considered one of the best hitters in baseball history, and although his energy output has regressed as he ages, he will still have a chance to increase his legacy in the 2021 MLB season – and potentially beyond. In 2020, Pujols reached 0.224 / 0.270 / 0.395 (80 OPS +) with eight doubles, six home runs and 25 RBI.
Despite the 60-game season, Pujols managed to achieve some career milestones. He passed Willie Mays on the all-time home run list, taking fifth place during the shortened season with his 661st home run in his career. 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 the MLB all-time RBI list to move into exclusive possession of second-place all-time during the short 2020 season. Only the legendary Hank Aaron, who has recorded 2,297 RBI in 23 seasons, is in front of Pujols now. It should be noted, however, that the MLB did not count the RBI before 1920 because it was not yet an official statistic. Babe Ruth (2,214 RBI) and Cap Anson (2,075 RBI) are in the 2,000 RBI club when you count the pre-1920 statistics.
In the past four seasons, Pujols has had a .242 / .291 / .406 (87 OPS +) batting line in more than 1,800 plate appearances. For Pujols’ career line, it is .299 / .377 / .546 (146 OPS +) with 3,236 hitting, 662 home runs and 2,100 RBI. In 10 of his 17 major league seasons, Pujols has hit 30 or more home runs, although he has not hit more than 23 home runs in a season since 2016. At his peak, he was one of the greatest hitters of all time, although not has been that player for several years. With the Angels, in recent years, he served mainly as a designated hitter.