The Path to 700: Albert Pujols's Farewell to St. Louis

A Rocky Start

Albert Pujols's initial month of 2022 presented a bit of a mirage of what was to come for the right-handed hitter. After finishing April with a .267 average, he would go into quite the slump in May and June. He hit .188 in May and .158 in June with just two home runs total between the two months. He recorded only 13 RBIs despite playing in 30 games.

Pujols was 42 after all, so expecting him to turn the clock back to 2011 in his former stomping grounds was a bit ambitious; however, his on-field impact was slowly fading after just three months of baseball. Meanwhile, young guys like top prospect Nolan Gorman and infielder Juan Yepez were seeing great success at Triple-A Memphis.

Gorman's .915 OPS through 43 games and 16 home runs in that span were making it hard to keep him down. He could play second base, but designated hitter would be where he would see the bulk of his time should he be called up, especially against right-handed pitchers. Yepez, a first baseman, had a .921 OPS in his first 50 games. He, too, had hit 16 home runs in Memphis.

Watching Albert struggle while these two players of the future were doing everything they needed to do to get promoted was challenging. His cumulative .173 batting average in the months of May and June forced him to consider an early retirement. John Denton of MLB.com conducted an interview with Pujols at the time, and this fact came to light.

When asked if he questioned his decision to return for one more season following his rough start to 2022, Pujols said, "No, I did. I swear I did. There were some times when I myself that, many times.” After experiencing nearly a decade of underperformance with the Los Angeles Angels, it was reasonable to assume that Albert would be willing to hang up his cleats with more struggles.