Albert Pujols Might Be Too Slow for Baseball l Baseball Bits

shoutout to see geek for sponsoring this video see geek is the best way to buy tickets online support the channel by using code foolish at checkout for $20 off your first purchase do me a favor and just watch this groundout by Albert Pujols do you notice anything alarming [Music] [Applause] yeah there's there's a lot to explore here have you ever seen a player given so much time but still get thrown out I don't think I have but that's exactly what happened to Albert Pujols on April 25th 2018 from the point of contact it takes him over five seconds to get to first base and he's thrown out on a bang-bang play the first component is the Astros shift the Astros are known for their exaggerated shifts on hooking lefties like Joey Gallo but they also like to apply a pretty heavy shift on another division rival and Pujols Korean Altuve in particular are playing very far back to pool holes his credit he basically finds the gap between the two but he doesn't hit the ball hard enough to get past either of them Korea probably should have been the one who fielded the ball as the shortstop he has a stronger arm and is also ranging towards the first base bag rather than away from it but it's Altuve who fields it and when he gets up he stops he pauses if this were any other batter now it's the time to swallow the ball don't attempt to throw but he glances at pool holes who is still impossibly far away from the bag it just goes for it now eBay is a rangy defender but he doesn't have the arm strength to make this type of throw normally he's a second baseman in angel' Tain's Simmons territory but he does it anyway it's about what you'd expect as it skips to the outstretched Marwin Gonzalez at first but somehow it's enough to get the lagging pool holes out the entire sequence is remarkable and there's no way l2 vey makes this throw if there's anyone else on the base pass besides Albert Pujols if you go on baseball savant sprint speed leaderboard you'll scroll for about half a day before you see pulses named he's ranked 320 first out of 322 players and even then the player that he is supposedly faster than Brian McCann can reach first base before Poole I'll explain why later it's sad to see who host was once a Titan of the game but he's now declining to an overpaid unathletic mess of a player with the Angels his tortoise like speed isn't so much of a cause of his problems as this in effect Father time has been unkind to Prince Albert and his declining athleticism is best represented by the fact that he quite frankly can barely run to first base anymore each aching step is an embarrassment to a once tremendous player and it goes without saying but it wasn't always this way in his prime Poulos wasn't blessed with blazing fast speed but he certainly made use of his surprising athleticism and agility for a big man from 2001 to 2011 the entirety of his Cardinals career pulse was a slightly above average base runner yielding plus three and a half base runs he was also a very savvy base stealer from 2009 to 2011 who all stole 39 bases and was only caught nine times that's an 83 percent success rate he used all that to good effect in his defense Pujols is a two-time Gold Glove winner but the advanced metrics paint him in an even better light with a hundred and forty-one career defensive runs saved he is one of the greatest defensive first baseman of all time as first noted by Mark Simon in the athletic pool saved ninety six of those runs in a five-year span between 2005 2009 the next most in that span by a first baseman was Mark Teixeira who saved 44 runs who else was in a league of his own defensively of course this success in terms of speed and athleticism was just a small part of his success overall most people remember pools for what he did with the bat in his hand from 2001 to 2011 who host led the league in home runs with 445 and be wore baseball reference's win Above Replacement with eighty six point six it's safe to say that the entire decade belonged to pool hulls who won three MVP awards and was runner-up four more times he was unstoppable as far as home to first speed it I was able to dig up just a few full speed or near full speed runs and timed them I basically ended up with a nice average of four point six nine but all of the video I looked at was from his later days with the Cardinals his best home so first was on this ground ball to Jose Reyes where pools reached base in 4.5 seconds from the moment of contact using the industry-standard 2280 scale for home to first where 50 is average that would have made pool hulls a 30 grade runner not very good but that's not what he was known for but that speed becomes really problematic when you look at his runs from 2018 and 2019 there I came up with an average of four point eight nine and a top speed of four point seven eight that puts him well below 20 on the scale two or three tenths of a second on a 90 foot sprint is huge I can't stress that enough it's the same as the difference between Usain Bolt and the 2018 Olympics and some guy from the Ivory Coast you never heard of and the 100-meter dash is a 328 foot race this was a race to first which is 90 feet authors note I would love to use Olympics footage here but I also don't want to get my channel copyright Newt if you guys think Major League Baseball is strict the Olympics are on a whole other level maybe a better example would be the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine it's the difference between ole Miss's DK Metcalf and Clemson's hunter Renfro no no not the Padres guy come on Tristan get it together buddy look alive out when it comes to running to first base Albert Pujols is the slowest player in baseball that shouldn't be a huge surprise he is after all the career leader and grounding out into double plays but if you go on baseball savant and look at their sprint speed leaderboard you'll see that pool Hulse is actually 320 first out of 322 players the only guy below him Atlanta's Brian McCann but and this is a huge but according to my film study pool host gets down the line slower why is this it's actually simple McCann is a left-handed hitter he starts about a step closer to first base than pool host does every time here's a pool host double play against the Brewers from this season Moustakas dives tosses it to second and throw to first just beats an outstretched pool holes the key word here is outstretched there's no let-up or slow down at the end for pool holes here he's going full speed for the whole run the final time four point seven eight seconds one of the fastest pool hole splits I could find from any year now watch McCann in 2018 big situation here with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the go-ahead runner on second base he rips the ball but it's into the shift and a disappointing the can is out by two or three steps the final time for that run four point eight one seconds nearly identical to pool holes it's not anything like pool hoses sprint no no no McCann executes a beautiful move that I'm deeming the mid run and spike he's so frustrated that he won't make it in time so he slows down a lot and he gives his helmet the grunt treatment if you want to see a full speed run from McCann here's a 4.7 flat that wood dust poo holes I think we solved the case to those of you watching this I think you might be wondering yeah foolish baseball we don't have slow pool horses but is it really that bad he's not supposed to be a speedster anyway what's so bad about being a little bit slower than everyone else to understand how damaging it is to be as sluggish as pool holes I want to have a race it will be 90 feet in that three racers are Albert Pujols the slowest runner DJ LeMahieu who's the definition of average by every statcast measure and Billy Hamilton who is lightning quick did you know that you can actually do this on baseball savant the greatest website of all time I load up poo holes I load up LeMahieu I load up Hamilton I start the race and off they go by the time Billy Hamilton reaches 90 feet LeMahieu is around 84 feet and pool holes is around 73 feet so the difference between Billy Hamilton consistently one of the league's fastest runners and DJ LeMahieu the definition of average is six feet on a home to first but then there's pool holes lagging behind it's 73 feet hopefully you've started to catch on if not let's remove Hamilton from the race and see what happens they take off and pool holes is at 78 feet as LeMahieu reaches 90 that's the real crux of the problem the difference between the fastest runner and the average runner is only six feet but the difference between the average runner and pool holes is a whopping 12 this isn't your average everyday slowness this is advanced slowness I know pool Hulse is 39 but there has to be something going on medically right more than you know let's delve into mr. poo else's history for a possible explanation the year is 2011 Albert Pujols has just concluded his contract with the Cardinals and is an unrestricted free agent how did he do in his walk year by his standards terrible pool hole set career lows and batting average on-base percentage slugging and Wins Above Replacement that seems like it would spell doom but then you see the stats yeah that's a career-low season for pool holes in 2011 he finished fifth and MVP voting and hit three home runs in a successful World Series conquest that's how good he was for the previous decade 2011 was his worst season to date it's decision-making time the Cardinals Marlins and angels all submit lengthy offers for pool holes who will turn 30 to the next month boy times have changed the result is an ugly breakup talks between the pool host camp and Cardinals breakdown over the Cardinals initial offer which is deemed insulting on December 8th 2011 who host signs with the angels for 10 years 254 million dollars who else's 2012 debut season in LA continues the decline from the previous year that offseason he has minor arthroscopic knee surgery in 2013 pool host returns for a disastrous season by his standards on August 19th the machine is shut down for the season with a foot injury partially torn plantar fascia which is tissue at the bottom of the foot he has a procedure done in November 2015 Pujols goes under the knife again this time to alleviate pain near the arch of his right foot he has previously spent the last few weeks of the season as a designated hitter as he was uncomfortable taking the field 2015 was also the first year of statcast sprint speed leaderboard and pool host finishes fifth to last trailing only catches Yadier Molina and Brian McCann and elder statesman David Ortiz and Victor Martinez pool halls plays a hundred and fifty-two games in 2016 but he only makes 23 starts at first base the position he used to dominate defensively that offseason he has another foot surgery it's the plantar fasciitis foot again his 2017 is an absolute flop and really completes the trend of decline taking a look at his weighted runs created Plus which is a batting stat where 100 is league average poo hole steadily declines every year from 2014 to 2017 he finished his 130 5th out of 144 qualified batters in WRC plus he also finishes dead last and sprint speed by a considerable margin now if you're not a big analytics guy or gal I understand how you could look at a stat like WRC plus and kind of roll your eyes but it's important to do so in this case because if you just looked at home runs an RBI you think he's doing just fine but a lot of that's just the simple fact that hitting home runs doesn't automatically make you a good hitter and that having Mike Trout bat in front of you is probably gonna help you drive in a lot more runs now let's get back to the story is 2018 is a bit better but he's shut down for surgery in August once again this time for the knee that makes at least five knee or foot surgeries that I can count since he arrived to Los Angeles that's got to do a real number on your mobility this is a rough state of affairs for everyone involved but in order to account for all explanations of pool halls decline there's one more touchy subject I need to hit on accusing an international player of being dishonest about his age without evidence is bad optics especially considering that Latin Player age fraud is a non-issue today but there is some uncertainty surrounding whether Poulos was actually born in January of 1980 you have to preface things like this though if Poulos is actually older than he says he is I wouldn't hold it against him there's been plenty of international talent that wasn't forthcoming about their true age Octavio Dotel claimed to be 17 when he signed with the Mets in 1993 he was actually nineteen flat Amir Guerrero and Miguel Tejada were also both older than they're listed ages the fact of the matter is that all those players turn out to be really really good when given time to develop would they have been given the same opportunities if organizations knew their true age tough to say in April twenty eighteen who else gave an interview with Yahoo's Tim Brown and stated that a home run he hit off Octavio Dotel as a 13 or 14 year old occurred 28 years prior which would make pool halls a couple years older than his listed age he repeated that message again stating that he believed Dotel was three or four years older than him Dotel is currently 45 years old who else is listed as 39 Jeff Zimmerman and Shaun Dolan are generated this graph of pulses production versus the typical aging curve for top 30 hitters the gray curve is the production of the top 30 hitters of all time the blue is pool hulls and the red is pulses aged plus 2 years as you can see when you age pool hulls up his sharp decline makes a lot more sense what's tricky about this situation is the pool holes contract with the Angels itself even though the Angels chose to do this several years ago no organization today would want to pay pools twenty eight million dollars per year until 2022 but if the Angels could somehow prove that pool hoses say forty one instead of thirty nine that could result in most or even all of the money left being voided because what we're really at is an impasse if pool host wasn't still under a monster contract the market could have very well decided that he is no longer fit for baseball the Angels however want to keep using pool hulls and batting him cleanup doing otherwise is an admission of defeat an admission that they didn't make a good deal for pool holes it's about pride he's going to keep playing until everyone says he can't anymore and playing baseball is what he was born to do it's like both parties are holding each other hostage the shadow of Albert Pujols once the greatest player of the 2000s struggles to complete the simple task of running to first base in 2019 it's kind of sad really he reminds us of the fragility of great baseball careers it's like watching your favorite superhero get Thanos and the crazy thing is I think there might actually be a sliver of Hope left I showed you plenty of five plus second runs to first base from this year and last and yet in my digging I also found this play from April 12th 2019 can you explain that a very respectable time to the knee surgery this offseason have worked you see only moving faster because it's early in the season that 4.38 home to first is by far the fastest time I could find four pools in the last 365 days the sprint speed leaderboard might still hate him but I do know that the guy on the right looks a lot quicker than the guy on the left but then there's this clip that got attention just a couple days ago once again who hosts labors around the base pass as he scores from first on a Cole Calhoun triple it's as if the season has already warned him down and that run versus the cups was just an outlier for someone who has last decades best player whose name is all over MLB record books and was brought so much joy and excitement to the league it would be nice to see an exit with a little bit more dignity is that too much to ask that wish may not even be possible with his lower body in disarray so do you guys think polska struggles with the Angels hurt his legacy I'd be curious to see what you have to say in the comments or you can tweet me at foolish BB and if you want to see the Great's of yesteryear like pool holes the Great's of today like trout or the Great's of tomorrow like Vladdy jr. live and in the ballpark SeatGeek has you covered SeatGeek formerly chair nerd that's not sure that's a joke is an app that makes buying tickets online easy and convenient they rate each deal on a scale of one to ten and show you pictures from each vantage point you can order through your browser or if you're on mobile you can download the app right in my video's description so if you want to catch a ball game or other sporting event this season and support the channel use my code foolish for $20 off of your first purchase once again big shout out to SeatGeek for sponsoring this episode of baseball vids [Music] yo yo Tristan yo Tristan Tristan if this video doesn't get enough SeatGeek purchases I'm just gonna eat your lunch dude that's it I'm just gonna eat your entire lunch I'm not even hungry when I'm hungry dude it's just out of malice at this point it's out of spite I'm gonna eat your lunch your whole lunch dude

Channel: Foolish Baseball

Views: 817,077

Keywords: albert pujols, albert pujols slow, albert pujols speed, albert pujols angels, albert pujols decline, albert pujols sprint speed, pujols, pujols slow, pujols speed, pujols angels, pujols decline, albert pujols contract, albert pujols double plays, albert pujols baserunning, pujols baserunning, baseball bits, foolish baseball, Albert Pujols Might Be Too Slow for Baseball l Baseball Bits, albert pujols angels contract, billy hamilton speed, mlb, baseball, major league baseball

Id: OCiUaNIqmS4

Length: 17min 4sec (1024 seconds)

Published: Sun May 05 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/JackeryA3]

For people like me who got to watch Albert Pujols in his prime, I'd say that there is no way to tarnish his legacy. Hell, he could be in the hall of fame if his career ended in St. Louis. But for newer fans who only got to see him as an Angel, they probably think very differently. It's hard to describe just how good he was in St. Louis, but I think when the video pointed out his 2011 season as the worst in his career up to that point it just shows you the level of dominance he had in the previous decade.

[u/Noy_Telinu]

Poor Pujols.

His constant feet injuries and surgeries fucked him up bad.

[u/[deleted]]

Thanks, I hate it.

He is a great guy, but his huge contract and watching him just lumber along costing us runs and outs is infuriating.

The good thing is we have someone way faster playing every day for him which is higher on this list.

Bour.. 277..... #KILLME

[u/WTFCheeseyPoo]

Like most players with injuries. But man I will never forget my first cubs game ever as a little kid and he hit two homeruns. One being in extra innings. From that moment on I would always dislike the Cardinals but I’m glad I got to see him when he was in his prime.

[u/realtylerbarnes]

I watched the cardinals as much as I could growing up, just for pujols. He is a hall of fame player no matter what the rest of his career holds

[u/JimTheLizzardKing]

Well it’s hard for your body to keep up when you reach 35. Most people’s bodies break down. Unless you’re Barry Bonds and say fuck it and just cheat and take steroids.

[u/groovysqirrel]

Honestly, I have been looking for some quality youtube baseball analysis content and this channel really is a tremendous up and coming spot for great information.

[u/Taxonomyoftaxes]

This video is for every single person who said Pujols lack of speed was being exaggerated by the Blue Jays clip

[u/Earthbound_and_down]

The strangest thing about Pujols' decline for me is his degrading ability to draw walks, he went from around 15% walk rate at his peak down to Javier Baez territory the past couple seasons (although he's been walking more so for this season).