by Cade Slaughter / April 26, 2022
The veteran slugger has lately been impacting the St. Louis Cardinals’ baseball club in more ways than one, both on and off the field.
A majority of Cardinals fans may have been shocked to see the 42-year-old veteran slugger pull off what he has done for the club. So far, despite his age and his statistics as of the last 5 years or more for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Albert is currently hitting .389 with two home runs and 4 RBIs in just a few weeks with the club and not very many games played.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic spoke to one of the team’s executives, stating, “I’m not sure where we would be without him.”
That comment not only applies to Pujols on the field, but off the field as well, as the Cardinals intended for Pujols to also be a great clubhouse presence to the younger players. The early results of Pujols’ performance make his contract seem to be a rather potential bargain, sitting at one-year, $2.5 million. However, it is quite early and different results could come and things could change quickly, being only 10 games into the season currently. Pujols’ current trend only makes the Cardinals even more dangerous. Last year, the Cardinals tended to lack quality offensive depth, especially against left-handed pitching. With Pujols, however, they have a proven commodity who thrived with the Los Angeles Dodgers last year in the playoffs, and it provides a lot of optimism and hope for the rest of the season before his retirement at the end of the year.
Nolan Arenado, Cardinals’ All-Star third baseman, has stated about Pujols: “He has been leading our meetings, speaking up, checking us, making sure we are ready to go, reminding us of certain things before we step on the field. It’s been really great.”
There is no doubt that the Cardinals’ addition of Pujols has helped the Cardinals so far on and off the field, and it will be interesting for Cardinals fans to see what comes of the rest of the season with his presence.
