Where does Albert Pujols fit in St Louis Cardinals’ lineup?

Albert Pujols has signed a 1-year contract to finish his career with the St Louis Cardinals

Albert Pujols is returning to the St. Louis Cardinals for one final victory lap. The greatest Cardinal of his generation, Pujols will retire with longtime teammates Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina at the conclusion of the 2022 season.

With Pujols returning to St. Louis, a lot of Redbird fans have mixed emotions. On one hand, it’s Albert. This is Mr. Cardinal for millions of baseball fans. On the other hand, this is a 42-year-old DH who can hardly hit his weight in on-base percentage, let alone batting average.

Where does Albert Pujols fit in St Louis Cardinals’ lineup?

Where does he fit in the lineup? That is another question entirely. One would not imagine him playing every day as a DH.

With his advanced age, the Cards should aim to get about 80-100 games played from the former three-time MVP. With several more appearances as a pinch hitter, Pujols should hover around the 100-120 game mark for the season.

In the daily lineup, it would be hard to imagine Pujols being in any of the first through fourth positions. Tommy Edman, Paul Goldschmidt, Tyler O’Neill, and Nolan Arenado seemingly have a stranglehold on those spots. From there, pretty much anywhere appears viable. Fifth would make the most sense from a power standpoint, though.

Placement in the lineup does not really matter at this point.

Albert is back! He’s going to be wearing the birds on the bat for one final season, and that is all that matters as we approach Opening Day.

Needing 21 home runs to enter the magical 700 home run club, Pujols has one final shot to make that dream a reality.