Albert Pujols is on track to have fifth-worst 100 RBI season ever
Only four players in history have knocked in 100 RBI in a season while being worth less than -1.0 WAR; Albert Pujols could become the fifth.
Albert Pujols recently hit his 610th career home run, which makes him the MLB leader in home runs by a foreign-born player. He passed Sammy Sosa and is now eighth on the all-time home run list, with Jim Thome just two long balls away. It’s a tremendous achievement and those 600-plus home runs will look very nice next to 3,000 hits on Pujols’ career resume. He’s likely to get hit number 3,000 sometime next season. He also has a chance to knock in his 2,000th run next season.
Despite the impressive career milestone Pujols just achieved with that historic home run, and the milestones still ahead, he’s having the worst season of his career by far. In his prime, Pujols was a consistent 8 WAR player (FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement). As he’s aged into his late 30s, he’s gone from an above-average player to league average to below average and, finally, to below replacement-level this season. And yet, he’s on pace to knock in more than 100 runs this year.
Through the Angels’ first 127 games, Pujols has 79 RBI. If he continues at this rate, he’ll finish with right around 100 RBI. This matches up well with the FanGraphs Depth Chart projection of 22 more RBI, which would also peg him to finish with 101 RBI for the season.
In the history of MLB, only four players have had 100 or more RBI and finished with a lower WAR than Pujols is projected to have this year. With his combination of poor hitting, mediocre base running, and no value on defense, Pujols is projected to finish the year with -1.2 WAR. Only one position player has a lower WAR than Pujols this year (Carlos Gonzalez).
The biggest problem is the bat. Pujols has a career .387 on-base percentage and .564 slugging percentage. This year, he has a .276 OBP and .382 SLG. His 74 wRC+ places him well below the average hitter (100 is league average). In that metric, he ranks 140th out of 153 hitters with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title, right between lightweights Yolmer Sanchez and Jose Reyes.
Should Pujols get 100 RBI this year, he’ll join the following players with 100 RBI in a season and a WAR below -1.0.