Pujols - The Best Hitter of Modern Times

The subject of the best hitter in baseball is onelikely improve with time, or at least maintain his
that could be debated for quite a long time. Manycurrent levels of production. Also important is the
people, however, have started to make a caseconsistency with which he plays the game.
for Albert Pujols as the best hitter of our lifetime.Looking at his statistics will help us appreciate this
For the sake of keeping the discussion groundedconsistency.
in the modern era of baseball, I will only beHe has a career batting average of.334, which is
referring to the last 30 years of MLB.typically good enough to win a league. The lowest
It can be enormously difficult to compare playershis batting average has ever dipped is .312, in his
from the different eras of baseball. There are sosecond year playing for the MLB. That this was
many variables that have changed over thehis lowest average ever says quite a bit about his
years, from the equipment to the fields. It justproduction. Since that year, his lowest average
wouldn't be fair to compare Pujols to classichas been .327.
hitters like Ted Williams or Willie Mays.Pujols is also a consistent home-run hitter, with his
Since so much has changed in the sport over thelowest single-season home run tally at 32. He's
years, it's impossible to rationalize how a player inbroken 40 homers in 5 of his 9 seasons. These
the modern era would perform in previous eras,are just a few of the impressive statistics in his
and vice versa. We can, however, discuss thecareer.
hitters that have come and gone in ourIt becomes more and more difficult to argue
generation, and there are several reasons whyagainst Pujols with every impressive season that
Albert Pujols should be in the running for the besthe plays. When he does retire, it's very possible
hitter in the modern era.that he'll be considered the best hitter that we
Pujols is only 29 years old; he's still young, and he'llsee in our lifetimes.