To say that Albert Pujols is struggling would be an
understatement. The game’s best player is currently in the longest slump of his career in relation to home runs, as he
has yet to hit one in 117 at-bats dating back to last season (September 22nd). This is not what the Angels expected out of
him when they signed him to a $240 million contract this past off-season. He is only hitting .216 and he only has 4
RBI’s on the season. To make matters worse, his team as of Monday April 30th is
7-15, good for last in the AL West, and already 9 games behind 1st
place Texas. The last time Pujols hit anything other than a
single was when he hit 3 doubles in a 4-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics on Thursday April 19th. As the
homerless streak continues, and the losses continue to mount, the pressure will
only begin to intensify on Pujols. Could
you image what it would be like if Pujols did this as a member of the Yankees
or Red Sox?
With all the media attention covering the struggles of Pujols, this blog post will cover several other high profile hitters who have also started out the 2012 season slowly.
· Prince
Fielder – The new $200 million man in Detroit. Yes he is hitting .309 on the season, but
until yesterday’s home run in a loss to the Yankees, he hadn’t hit one since
Game 2 of the regular season (a game he actually hit 2 home runs in). He went 20 games without hitting a home run
(a stretch of 71 at bats). He only has 5
extra base hits this season, 3 home runs and 2 doubles. The rest are all singles.
· Robinson
Cano – Coming off of an MVP caliber season in which he hit .302, with 28
home runs and 118 RBI’s, much was expected of him coming into this season. He’s only hitting .264, with one home run and
4 RBI’s in the team’s first 21 games. Not good.
· Jose
Reyes – Entering today’s action, in 21 games he is hitting just above the
Mendoza line at .203, with a .281 on base percentage and .316 slugging
percentage. He only has 7 extra base
hits (5 doubles and 2 triples) and is 4 for 7 on stolen base attempts. Perhaps the poor start to this season is in
the words of Brian O’Donnell (@bxod34 on Twitter) “sweet justice” for taking
himself out of the final game of last season after getting a hit in the 1st
inning in order to hold off Ryan Braun and win the N.L batting average title.
· Giancarlo
“Mike” Stanton – Another Miami Marlin on the list. Yes, I know that he is battling some
injuries, but he hasn’t gone on the D.L yet, so I’m assuming he is healthy
enough to play. This is a guy who hit 37
home runs last year and entered this year as everyone’s trendy pick to have the
most home runs in the National League.
He hit a home run yesterday to raise his season total to……ONE. His 4 RBI day yesterday also increased his
RBI total to 9 for the year.
· Joey
Votto – Another newly minted $200 million man. Up until yesterday, Votto hadn’t hit a home
run since the 2nd game of the season. He now has 2 home runs and 15 RBI’s to go
along with a decent .289 batting average.
Most of his stats are very good (.439 OBP and .500 slugging), the only
real issue here was the lack of power.
Maybe yesterday’s performance will be the start of a hot streak.
· Matt
Holliday – Not everything is well in St. Louis country these days. Holliday is only hitting .215 with a .277 OBP
and .376 slugging percentage. He only
has 7 extra base hits (3 doubles and 4 home runs). Good thing this team has a hot Rafael Furcal,
David Freese, and Carlos Beltran to carry the load until this guy gets going.
· Jose
Bautista – A terrible start for this Blue Jays slugger. Bautista is hitting .190, with 5 extra base
hits (3 home runs and 2 doubles). He has
an OBP of .333 and slugging .329. This
guy is coming off of back-to-back seasons in which he hit 54 and 43 home
runs. He only hit 12 of his 43 home runs
after the all-star break last year. Combine
that with the slow start this year and you have to ask, is this the start of
the downward cycle?
· Derek
Jeter – No this guy isn’t struggling.
I wanted to end on a good note here.
I have to give props to the 37 year old Jeter who is the current leader
in hits in all of baseball with 36 and his .396 batting average currently leads
the American League. “The Captain” can
still play!
For All You Gamblers Out There…
· This Saturday is the annual “Run for the Roses”
as the 138th Kentucky Derby is set to take off at approximately
6:24pm. I’m no expert in the “fastest
two minutes in sports” but I do have my own local source to go to when I need
some advice. Check out Gene Kershner on
Twitter (@EquiSpace) or follow his blog at www.equispace.blogspot.com. He is also the Buffalo News blog writer for
all things horse racing.
That’s all I have for now. Until next time…
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