St. Louis Cardinals’ Top 20 Hitters

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#3 – 1B Albert Pujols

Although Albert Pujols won’t finish his career in a Cardinals’ uniform, there’s no doubt that he’ll go down as one of the best St. Louis Cardinals players ever — particularly with the bat. In eleven years in St. Louis, Pujols hit an incredible .328/.420/.617 with 445 home runs and a 167 wRC+ overall.

He hit at least .300 with at least 30 home runs, at least 100 RBIs, and at least 100 runs scored in ten of those eleven seasons, missing a .300 average and 100 runs by one point in 2011. Regardless of how you feel about counting stats, that’s an amazing run.

In fact, if you remove his down season in 2011 from consideration, Albert Pujols’ ten year run from 2001-2010 looks even more impressive: .331/.426/.624. Over that stretch, Pujols took home the Rookie of the Year Award, three MVP trophies, and five other top-three finishes in the MVP voting.

For an entire decade, Pujols was an unstoppable force who drove the Cardinals and terrorized the National League. His best season came in 2003, when he slashed .359/.439/.667 with 95 extra bas-hits (51 doubles, 43 homers, one triple) with the best wRC+ of his career at 184. In spite of his contract choices after 2011, Albert Pujols is well deserving of a top spot among St. Louis Cardinals’ hitters.

Next: The Man