Its been a little more than a month into the MLB season and it took that long for Albert Pujols of the Angels to finally hit his first homer of the season. He did not hit his first home run for the Angels until his 28th game and 111th at-bat with the team. Dating back to 2011, he had not homered in 33 games and 139 regular season at-bats, the longest drought of his career. Pujols as we all know signed that contract with the Angles worth $254 Million back in December.
Now last year Albert hit .299 with the Cardinals while blasting 37 home runs and driving in 97 runs while playing in St. Louis. The Cards decided not to try and re-sign the all-star first baseman and he then signed the massive contract with the Angels. This year, in the first 28 games of the season for the Cards, he is hitting .196 with the one home run and seven runs batted in. In his 112 at-bats this season he has 22 hits with six walks and 16 strikeouts.
Albert as we all remember went wild in game three of last years world series going 5 for 6 with three homers and six RBI's. So there were big expectations from him, and Prince Fielder as well with him signing a big contract with the Tigers. Fielder is at least somewhat producing in Detroit, while he's hitting .300 with 4 homers and 13 RBI. So Prince is adjusting it seems a little better to life in the AL then Albert.
Here's a guy who throughout his career has become one of the more feared hitters in all of baseball. Last year was the only one of his career where he failed to hit 300 or higher in a season, and last year was also the first year of his career where he failed to drive in 100 runs in a year, he ended with 99. It was his lowest total since driving in 103 in 2007.
One of the theories as to why he is struggling could be the lineup he is in. Mark Trumbo, Kendrys Morales, Tori Hunter, and Howard Kendrick are the main hitters in that lineup besides Albert. Morales and Trumbo are the only ones hitting over 300, Trumbo Kendrick and Hunter are the only ones with double digits in RBI's and they have four homers each. Meanwhile back in St. Louis, the Cardinals have SIX guys who have 10+ RBI's on the season and SIX guys hitting over 300. He would have gotten some protection in the Cards lineup. With guys like Tori Hunter and Howard Kendrick in the Lineup, Albert is going to be pitched around more than he would in the Cards lineup. With St Louis, teams have to deal with guys like Beltran, Holliday, Freese, Molina, Furcal, and Carpenter. So with the Cards he would have been pitched to more because he would have had more protection in the lineup.
While with the Angels he is the big bat in their batting order, and managers know that if he can get anything to hit he can crush the ball like it's nobodies business. Not only that but I think on the whole pitching in the American League is just better compared to what he would have seen in the National League. But now that Albert finally has that first longball out of the way he can go back to just relaxing and playing baseball. One other thing I think can help is if he doesn't try and do too much and carry the team. He has other guys with talent around he, all he has to do is try and relax play his game and everything will work out fine.
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