Dominican home runner Albert Pujols plans to appear at training in Los Angeles Angels in Tempe, Arizona on Wednesday, where he will complete the process of preparing for the final season of a fabulous contract that could be the last of his legendary major league career. . American baseball.
Los Angeles opens its pitching and catch camp on Wednesday, but the rest of the players will not have to show up until next Monday. However, the coronavirus health and safety protocol requires that players undergo screening tests and undergo a mandatory five-day quarantine at home before entering the field.
At 41, multiple operations on various parts of his body, a pile of records and a fortune in excess of $ 300 million, Pujols faces 2021 not as the end of the journey, but as a stop that will decide the next destination.
“Right now, I have no plans for the future,” Pujols told ESPN Digital on Tuesday.
“I worked all winter to be ready from the first day of training. I will take this day every day, without creating expectations. There are things that happen that you can’t control,” Pujols said.
“I will try not to think about the future, but what I can do now for this organization. My body will dictate what I should do later,” he added.
A 10-time All-Star with three MVP awards, Pujols could make it clear that he will have a plaque in the Cooperstown Hall of Fame at the end of his career. But the fifth-highest home runner and second in the RBI in major league history, he doesn’t have a secure place in Joe Maddon’s lineup right now for the April 1 season.
In last year’s 60-game season – his penultimate $ 10 million, $ 240 million deal with Los Angeles – Pujols managed .224 with six home runs and 25 RBIs in 152 batters. hate. In the midst of a pandemic, Pujols had the worst percentages of OBP (.270) and OPS (.665) in his 20-year career.
Pujols’ brightest moments came on September 13 at Coors Field in Colorado, when he hit 660th to tie Willie Mays for the all-time lead and five days later against Texas Rangers in Anaheim, when he last hit to. two homers of the season, leaving Mays behind.
Now, the only players who have hit more home runs than Pujols (662) are Dominican Alex Rodriguez (696) and Americans Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755) and Barry Bonds (762). With 2,297 RBIs, Aaron is the only one with more than Pujols (2,100).
In September, in the second and final month of the season, Pujols was transformed by Maddon into an occasional player who started in only 14 of the 24 games in Los Angeles. With Jared Walsh installed at first base, it remains to be seen how many bats Maddon would guarantee Pujols in his final season.
“My body is feeling well. I haven’t visited an operating room recently and because of how short it was last season, I’m rested,” Pujols said.
“I go to training full of optimism, ready to contribute and focused on the things I can control. Later I will have time to think beyond 2021,” the player added.