By: David A. Avila
Published: May 8, 2021

Baseball’s best hitter in the 21^st century Albert Pujols was released unceremoniously by the Los Angeles Angels this week. It was the final year of his 10-year contract that he signed in 2011 for $240 Million.

Pujols burst into Major League Baseball with the impact of a Howitzer cannon in 2001 by hitting .329 with 37 homers and 130 RBIS in 161 games for the St. Louis Cardinals. Teammates like Mark McGwire and Mike Lowell claimed he was the best hitter they had ever seen. It was not an aberration.

For 11 years with the Cardinals the stoutly built Pujols battered all pitching and never hit below .300 until his final year with the St. Louis team in 2011 when he hit a mere .299. He then signed a 10-year contract with the Angels after leading the Cardinals to World Series glory against the Texas Rangers that year.

My first remembrance of Pujols was on the baseball diamond during batting practice. While talking to the late Willie Davis at Dodger Stadium, a ball rolled over to my feet. I picked it up to toss the errant ball back to the player seeking to retrieve it, and it was a smiling Pujols in his Cardinal uniform.

“Thank you man,” said Pujols who looked like he could fight Mike Tyson.

Over the years Pujols proved to be one of the most feared hitters in all of baseball. Ironically, when he moved to the Angels ball club in 2012, he was there to greet a young rookie named Mike Trout. It is Trout who now holds the baton as most feared hitter in baseball.

While both shared dugouts with the Angels, the accomplishments of Pujols rolled on and on. The slugging first baseman passed the 3,000 hits milestone, 600 homer record and smashed the RBI records of almost every hitter in history except one. Trout witnessed all those moments.

“Obviously, all the stiff he accomplished on the field, its pretty incredible,” said Trout while on a Zoom call. “And you see him pass these Hall of Fame guys night in and night out these last few years.”

Just this week when Pujols smashed a one-hop liner through third and short against the Seattle Mariners, he passed yet another Hall of Fame great Nap Lajoie with his 3,253 hit. It was also his final hit as an Angel.

No Hitter week

In these feast or famine days of baseball, Baltimore Orioles ace John Means delivered the third no-hitter of the young season in defeating the Seattle Mariners 6-0 on Wednesday May 5.

Behind a pinpoint fastball Means struck out 12 Mariners and nearly tossed a perfect game had not one of the strikeout victims made it to first base when a third strike got away from the catcher. That same Mariner was tossed out trying to steal.

“I can’t put into words,” expressed Means to MLB Network. “I’m glad I got it.”

No Baltimore hurler had fired a no-hitter since Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer accomplished the feat in 1969. In 1991 a gang of four Orioles also tossed a no-hitter.

Earlier this season Joe Musgrove of the San Diego Padres and Carlos Rodon of the Chicago White Sox also fired no-hitters in April.

Means (4-0) is among the top five pitchers in MLB and has an 1.37 ERA and 0.67 WHIP that leads the American League through May 6.

Also, on Friday May 7, Wade Miley of the Cincinnati Reds tossed a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians to win 3-0. It was the second time the Indians were no-hit this season.

Miley went into the last inning with a 0-0 tie but the Reds broke it open with three runs. He set down the Indians with a total of 114 pitches.

21^st century stats

Throughout the Major Leagues strikeout numbers are up and so are home runs as the art of contact hitting has been shoved aside for quick results. It’s a new era where contact hitting has diminished in favor of the big blast and defensive shifts are the norm.

Recently some hitters, but not many, are adapting to the defensive alignments based on algorithms and other formulas. Long ball sluggers like Joc Pederson were seen dropping bunts to vacated third base areas for base hits. It’s a tactic long overdue and could end infields stacked to one side or the other in quick fashion.