• Babe Ruth
• Ted Williams
• Barry Bonds
• Lou Gerhig
• Rogers Hornsby
• Mickey Mantle

This is the company that Albert Pujols keeps atop the career OPS+ stat for a career. The comparisons at this point aren’t with his peers. They are with the greatest players spanning 4 different epochs of baseball history. The debate isn’t whether there is another active player better than Pujols.

It’s whether anyone was better.

We are talking about a man who can hit .360, mash 50 HRs, walk 100+ times, and strike out less than 50 times a season. Through his age-27 season, Baseball-reference.com says that he compares to Joe DiMaggio, and his age-28 season looked just like Jimmie Foxx’s. Perhaps Pujols is the culmination of baseball evolution, the combination of the best players rolled into one. The only things he is missing are Willie Mays’ legs, but he is among the best base runners in the game today. More on that tomorrow.

For now, let us focus on the swing.

Here is an excellent break down of his swing. Pujols has an extremely well-balanced swing, he doesn’t move his head, and his weight is always evenly distributed. He doesn’t waste any movement; every single muscle twitch is with the intent of crushing that little white spherical object that is coming at him.

The swing is marvelous, but even more marvelous are the results. We’ve all no doubt seen the slobberfest going on for the man right now, and while it’s done in a way that only the ever annoying ESPN can do it, it’s all well-deserved praise. The question does deserve to be raised about his place in baseball history.

Afterall, his career line of .334/.427/.630 would be good for 23rd/12th/4th all-time in baseball history. His career OPS of 1.057 is also good for 4th all-time, and he is well on his way to making some serious dents in the counting statistics career standings as well.

We may have reached the midpoint of his career, one where he can combine raw ability with veteran savvy. He has, to this point, suceeded in that regard. There is no player alive today that is better than Albert Pujols. Not Hank Aaron, not Barry Bonds, and certainly not Ichiro.

Things can still go wrong, I remember Frank Thomas in these talks before a strange drop in production—during what should have been his peak years—stopped all that, but given the comps for Pujols, I doubt he will suddenly drop off the face of the earth and fail to hit.

No, I fully expect Pujols to carry on being the best hitter in the world, and while I won’t do anything silly like try to extrapolate his career line, given that he has good legs, is a smart runner and has a genuine gold glove, I doubt that anything short of an injury will stop his meteoric rise to the forefront of baseball’s Mt. Rushmore.

In a sport full of stars, Pujols’ has the potential to be the brightest of them all.

The first time I saw Prince Albert was back in ‘02, a year after the Cubs flirted with the playoffs and in the middle of being just plain BAD. I really can’t remember why he didn’t stick with me that season, I thought he was overrated, and naturally I thought that there were other players better than he.

Back in the infancy of my critical baseball mind, I thought Ichiro was a better hitter, and a better pure hitter because he hit for a high average. Ichiro was fast, played great defense, and was fun to watch.

Pujols to me was a lumbering slugger who only hit longballs. Ichiro was seen as a professional hitter, someone who was to go down as the greatest batsmen of this generation. I agreed with them, pointing to superficial things like batting average and how smooth the swing looked. Man, I couldn’t have been much stupider then.

Now, not only is it clear who the better of the two is, it isn’t even really close. The mold that Pujols broke is that of the slugger, a flyball hitter with no line drive skills. Take into account that this year Pujols hits MORE line drives on average than Ichiro, Pujols at 16.2, and Ichiro at 16 even. For their careers Ichiro holds a slight edge, and the fact that they are the same is amazing.

While both players play to their advantage, Pujols hits flyballs which helps his power, Ichiro hits grounders which goes to his speed game, Pujols is so much better at his craft than Ichiro is at his. Ichiro is fast, no doubt, but Pujols is probably right now, one of the best power hitters ever.

People will say that Ichiro strikes out less, and that should count for something. It does, he k’s in about 9% of his AB’s while Pujols is at 12.4, but those stats don’t tell the whole story. You see, Pujols also walks in close to 20% of his Plate Apperances, while Ichiro is down there at 4.6%. Pujols walks more, hits for more power, hits for about the same number of line drives and plays to his strengths much better than Suzuki.

Look, Ichiro is a borderline great player, he plays great defense, and at times has proven to be a great hitter, but his value as a hitter is tied strictly into how well his legs are holding up. As we saw last year, when his legs hurt, he becomes a .310 hitter with zero plate discipline and no power.

Pujols is a multifaceted hitting machine that can hurt you in more ways than just fast legs. Pitchers really fear him, and it shows.

So here we are, shortly after the 1/3 mark of the baseball season.

Some of you fantasy owners are really impatient.  I’ve seen guys get dropped after having a bad 3 days.  Heck, I got Joe Mauer off the Waiver Wire because somebody wanted to fill their catcher spot when Mauer was still on the DL.

So let’s start with what to watch for in the second third of the season with the top 10 players in Fantasy as I see them.

Zack Greinke

Man, this guy is consistent. He releases the ball from the same release point every time. Baseball is a game of doing the same thing over and over and over again, and it’s the repetitions that make you great. And he has been great. He will continue to be so in the second third, but not 1.10 ERA good. Adjustments have been made, and the White Sox got to him a bit in his last start. Look for an uptick in the ERA as he starts to give up a few more gopher balls because of the warming weather and better scouting reports on him, but his periphial stats (k-bb ratio, WHIP, opp avg, gb%) should stay the same.

Raul Ibanez

Good Lord, what a signing. Runs and RBIs are typicaly more about opportunity than actual talent, but this guy just rakes. Ibanez is a viable MVP candidate and the second third will see him taper off just a bit with his avg just because he doesn’t walk enough to sustain a .337 avg. But he won’t fall of the earth. His MVP caliber season will continue, but those RBIs will start to slow in growth because pitchers will stop pitching to him with runners on. Slg should stay the same and barring an injury he will challenge Pujols for the mantle of Fantasy king.

Speaking of

Albert Pujols

Do you realize that he has 16 home runs and 18 Ks? Them be video game numbers right there. Pujols should actually improve his avg. over the next few months and continue to mash the ball. He won’t slump, but this is as good as it gets fantasy-wise.

Carl Crawford

He leads the league in stolen bases and has already outdone his sb total from last year. After ‘06, this is the guy we expected to see, not the ‘08 dude that looked ordinary. I don’t know where he found his patience, but it’s working, and it’s going to help him during that inevitable slump that’s coming along soon. He’s red-hot right now, but I don’t see him hitting much over .300 if he does at all.

Roy Halladay

Well, I guess Cito Gaston is going to see if Nolan Ryan is right in thinking that high pitch counts actually help pitchers. It almost seems as though Cito is mad at Roy for some strange reason. But well here you are, arguably the best pitcher in the AL slaving away for a team destined to finish third, like the Jays always seem to do. Roy will wear down a bit and I’d watch for an injury here, of course if he doesn’t get injured and actually becomes more effecient with his innings it’s not out of the question that he can top 250 ip and be extremely valuable doing it. I like Roy, I just hope that Cito knows what he’s doing with him.

Ian Kinsler

It’s hard to find 2b who can slug .450-plus. Combine that with his high base-running IQ, and you have quite the player. He’s almost matched his HR total from last year as a lot of those doubles are starting to go over the fence now. He’s squaring up the ball better it looks like and I can see this guy surge during the second third. He might get to 30-30 but he’ll have to work hard on the basepaths to get there. Either way he’s a heckuva ballplayer.

Evan Longoria

I like Evan Longoria, I just don’t think he’s going to slug .614. He’s a nice player who surged at the start of the year but has since been hampered by a hamstring. It’s the type of minor injury that could sap a bit of his power and prevent him from being the best fantasy option in the AL. For now he’ll have to settle for the best 3b in baseball.

Adrian Gonzalez

What would you say if my inf. was Adrian, Evan, Ian, Youk, and Joe Mauer behind the dish? Yeah, I thought you’d be jealous. Adrian is putting it together but I don’t see him getting 40 plus home runs this year. While he is no slouch at home he is getting twice as many dingers on the road than at home. That’s not an indictment against him, it’s just that the road presents too many variables to say that he’ll continue to slug .806 away from PETCO. Dude needs to get out of San Diego and get his butt traded to the Cubs already.

Justin Morneau

Well, would you look at who found their HR stroke? And I don’t think he’s going to cool off, either. He’s finally figured out how to slug at the dome as he is out homering and out slugging his road stats at home. This is a trend that I think will continue as the weather heats up. I’d be wary though, once he reaches the midway point, because he has a tendency to disappear in August and September.

Hanley Ramirez

He won’t hit .340, but that .557 slg. percentage is no mirage. Those doubles will turn into home runs and I think he’s primed to go on a mini HR hot streak. He’s not as patient as he was last year but those Ks are down as well. He’s been a little hit-lucky, but I don’t see him falling much below .315.

Add these guys

Andrew Bailey, RP Oak

He’s the new Oakland closer and he’s not very well known. Oakland will play some really tight games because of their offense and he is a candidate to strike out 100 batters.

Hank Blalock, 3B Tex

Yeah, go ahead and bite on this guy. 12 homers during the first third and I think that average will come around. He’s currently hitting .252, but I see him more in the .270-.280 range.

Edwin Jackson, SP Det

This is the guy the Dodgers thought they drafted. He doesn’t strike out a lot of batters, but he does not give up many hits. He is improving on his numbers from last year and it looks like he’s figured out his control problems.

That’s all for this week, tune in next week for fantasy corner!