Dominican home runner Albert Pujols plans to report to Los Angeles Angels training in Tempe, Arizona on Wednesday, where he would complete the prep process for the final season of a fantastic contract that could be the last of his storied career in the United States. Major Leagues. American baseball.
Los Angeles will open the pitching and catch camp on Wednesday, but the rest of the players will not have to report until next Monday. However, the coronavirus health and safety protocol requires players to undergo screening tests and a mandatory five-day home quarantine before entering the field.
At 41 years, multiple surgeries on various parts of his body, a stack of plates and a fortune in excess of $ 300 million, Pujols sees 2021 not as the end of the journey, but as a stopover that will determine the next destination. .
“At the moment I have no plan for the future,” Pujols told ESPN Digital on Tuesday.
“I’ve been working all winter to be ready from day one of training. I’ll be following this year from day to day, without creating expectations. There are things that happen that you have no control over,” said Pujols.
“I will try not to think about the future, but what I can do for this organization now. My body will dictate what to do later,” he added.
Pujols, a 10-time All-Star with three MVP awards, could take it for granted 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 RBI’s in Major League history, he currently has no safe place in Joe Maddon’s line-up for the season beginning April 1.
In last year’s season of 60 games – the penultimate of his $ 240 million 10-year contract with Los Angeles – Pujols hit .224 with six home runs and 25 RBI’s in 152 at-bats. In the midst of a pandemic, Pujols had the worst OBP (.270) and OPS (.665) rates in his 20-year career.
Pujols’ brightest moments came on September 13 at Coors Field in Colorado, when he hit his 660th homer to tie Willie Mays for the all-time lead, and five days later, against the Texas Rangers in Anaheim, hitting his last . two homers of the season, leaving Mays behind.
Now, the only players to 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 RBI’s, Aaron is the only one with more than Pujols (2,100).
In September, in the second and final month of the season, Maddon transformed Pujols into an occasional player who only started in 14 of Los Angeles’ 24 games. With Jared Walsh installed at first base, it remains to be seen how many at-bats Maddon Pujols would guarantee in his final season.
“My body feels good. I haven’t been to an operating theater recently and how short it was last season left me rested,” said Pujols.
“I go to practice full of optimism, ready to contribute and focused on the things I can master. Later I will have time to think after 2021,” the player added.