You Make the Call

Pujols, the best right-handed power hitter? Or is A-Rob the King of right-handed power hitters?

Sometimes a good ole’ fashioned debate is fun to look partake in. Who makes the best luxury cars ? Is the answer BMW or Mercedes? Perhaps it is Rolls-Royce. Maybe Aston Martin? Regardless, they are all great cars, and this is a sports blog, not Car and Driver.

While on the phone with a good friend recently, I asked him who he thought was the best right-handed hitter during the past fifty years and to compare that player to Albert Pujols, the St. Louis Cardinals All-Star 1st Baseman. The answer was not surprising, although since he could not stand the player due to his former (and current) love affair with the almighty dollar, he simply stated, “you know who it is.”

How you doin’ Alex?

Alex Rodriguez, a.k.a. A-Rod, is certainly a slugging machine, at least in the regular season. With that said, here is a look at there statistical comparisons over the course of their careers. Note that Rodriguez is much older. Thus, his career totals are much larger.

Beginning with A-Rod:

His career home run total stands at 518, with 1,503 runs batted in, and a career batting average of .308. Rodriguez tallied 2,250 hits during the first fourteen years of his career. That’s an average of 160.7 per season, which, for a power hitter, is incredible. If the first two years of A-Rods career are taken out of the equation due to him only playing a combined 65 games in 2004 and 2005, and then subtract his 44 hits from his MLB career, his average hits per season comes to 175.9! Again, Rodriguez was and is a power hitter.

Here’s the incredible statistic about Rodriguez’s career: 518 home runs, with only five home runs during his first two seasons, which totaled to 196 at bats. Therefore, Rodriguez bombed 513 home runs during the past twelve seasons for the Mariners, Rangers, and Yankees, for an average of 42.75 per season. Wow…

Moving to Pujols:

Pujols has launched 282 home runs, drove in 861 runs, with a .332 batting average to boot. During his seven year career, Pujols career hit total reached 1,344 at the conclusion of the 2007 season. The average hit total, per season, for Pujols…192! Goodness!

As for the all-important home run average, Pujols is right there with A-Rod: 40.28 home runs per season. Albert has been fairly fortunate with injuries thus far, but knock on wood, he has an injury that might require him to have Tommy John surgery…and that is a lengthy layoff (1+ seasons on average).

Conclusion:

Now here is the caveat between the two with regards to hitting, and I brought this up with my friend, who just so happens to be a life-long St. Louis Cardinals fan – Pujols has played MLB exclusively in the National League, while A-Rod has played all fourteen years of his MLB career in the American League. With the designated hitter rule applying to the American League and not the National League…Albert saw fewer at bats, as well as fewer quality pitches, at least in theory. Oh, to heck with theory. No sane person is going to state that the St. Louis lineup provides more protection for Pujols than the Yankees 21st Century murders row lineup provides for Alex Rodriguez.

The lone category that Pujols just blows Rodriguez away would be his penchant for acquiring walks as opposed to strikeouts. Sure, A-Rod earns many walks, but he does strikeout frequently as well, to the tune of 120 Ks during the 2007 regular season and 1,524 for his fourteen year career, leading to a 108.85 average. Pujols, meanwhile, was struck out only 58 times during the 2007 season, and has only totaled 452 strikeouts during his seven year MLB career, for a 64.57 average. That’s a difference of over 44 strikeouts per season.

Comparing apples to oranges is truly similar to comparing Pujols and Rodriguez due to the fact that Rodriguez played fourteen MLB seasons compared to seven for Pujols at the time of this study. With that said, Pujols’ numbers are even more staggering than Rodriguez when comparing yearly averages, even with his entire career being played in the National League. The question is, will Pujols be able to keep up such a torrid pace all the way through his fourteenth MLB season like Rodriguez has? Only time can answer that pivotal question.

So what does all this mean? Pujols has been the better all-around power hitter, while Rodriguez has longevity on his side. And one must also take into account this discussion only considers hitting, and not defense or running the bases.

Rodriguez and Pujols are sure-fire 1st ballot Hall of Famers, assuming Pujols stays healthy enough to play another five-plus seasons at the MLB level. A-Rod is mortal lock for the Hall of Fame right now, regardless if my buddy likes him or not. And again, he was not shy about stating his disapproval of A-Rod in terms of his monetary selfishness. But I digress…