After a depressing, injury-riddled 2013 season, the Angels got a nice bounceback season from their quarter-billion dollar man, Albert Pujols. He still didn’t exactly play up to his contract though, so perhaps the excitement should be tempered a bit.
Did Albert bounceback enough?
In 2013, Albert was playing on one leg for all intents and purposes and managed a .329 wOBA and 112 wRC+. In 2014, he was ostensibly healthy and only able to post a .340 wOBA and 124 wRC+. That’s better, but it isn’t all that much better, especially when you consider his .360 wOBA and 133 wRC+ in 2012, before his leg issues really got bad.
It’s hard to be upset about a guy posting a 124 wRC+, the sole exception being when that guy is making $250 million. The Angels aren’t paying Pujols to be their fourth-best offensive player.
Even if you take the contract out of the equation, this just isn’t the performance level that many would have predicted for a healthy Albert. He was much better in 2012, and that was with him basically taking a dump for the first month of the season. So, yes, while he had a good season relative to the rest of all MLB players, this year was a bit underwhelming relative to Pujols himself.
Was he actually healthy?
Therein lies the rub. He did play 159 games, suggesting he was feeling pretty good, but we also know that he is insanely stubborn, so he might have refused to sit in some misplaced since of machismo and pride. There were certainly times throughout the season where he looked like he wasn’t running very well and rumblings early on in the year that he was actually having leg problems again. Just because he barely missed anytime doesn’t mean that he wasn’t ailing.
The biggest piece of evidence to suggest that he was healthy enough to be highly productive was that Pujols looked quite spry in the field. When he was having foot problems last year, he was basically a lawn ornament. This year though, he was making diving stops and showing solid range. He was even nominated for a Gold Glove, for crying out loud. Say what you will about the credibility of the Gold Gloves, but it goes to show that he at least appeared to be fielding well, something the advanced stats back up.
The counter-argument to that would be Albert’s splits when he was DHing. On those days where he spent a minimal amount of time on his feet, he straight up raked with a.403 wOBA and 167 wRC+ versus a .316 wOBA and 167 wRC+ while playing first. He only had 180 PAs at DH, so there is a screaming small sample size issue here, but it is at least something to raise an eyebrow at.
Was it maybe just bad luck?
Not so much bad luck as perhaps the shift. Albert certainly had some troubling numbers, such as a career-low walk rate and the second-lowest ISO of his career. So his decline in 2014 certainly had some reality to it. However, he also only had a .265 BABIP on the season, which is low for any batter, even lead-footed sluggers in their mid-thirties. He could barely move last season and had a .259 BABIP.
Only Ian Kinsler had more plate appearances than Pujols ending with a ball hit to the pull side of the field. Pujols, however, only had a .250 BABIP when pulling the ball because he was being shifted against prolifically, at least in part. Surely there was some element of his own decline involved, but the shift sure wasn’t helping, especially with Albert hitting a career-high 45.7% of balls on the ground. At a point, he just needs to adjust, but maybe it is too late for this old dog to learn any new tricks.
So you’re saying he should just bunt against the shift then?
No, because that would require him to be able to actually run fast enough to make it matter.
Final Answer
Pujols the superhero is dead. Albert the decent hitting first baseman is still alive and mostly well. Things aren’t likely to get any better for Pujols going forward, the most the Angels can do now is hope that they don’t get much worse for at least a few more years.
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