Albert Pujols’ quest for the Triple Crown

It’s been 42 years since anyone has won the Tipple Crown in Baseball.

Perhaps you emember reading Professor Lee Moquin’s piece on Carl Yastrzemski back on June 3rd. Carl was the last player to win the Tripple Crown in 1967.

Here are the previous winners….

1967 AL Carl Yastrzemski BOS .326, 44 HR, 121 RBI
1966 AL Frank Robinson BAL .316, 49 HR, 122 RBI
1956 AL Mickey Mantle NYY .353, 52 HR, 130 RBI
1947 AL Ted Williams BOS .343, 32 HR, 114 RBI
1942 AL Ted Williams BOS .356, 36 HR, 137 RBI
1937 NL Joe Medwick STL .374, 31 HR, 154 RBI
1934 AL Lou Gehrig NYY .363, 49 HR, 165 RBI
1933 AL Jimmie Foxx PHA .356, 48 HR, 163 RBI
1933 NL Chuck Klein PHI .368, 28 HR, 120 RBI
1925 NL Rogers Hornsby STL .403, 39 HR, 143 RBI
1922 NL Rogers Hornsby STL .401, 42 HR, 152 RBI
1909 AL Ty Cobb DET .377, 9 HR, 107 RBI
1901 AL Nap Lajoie PHA .426, 14 HR, 125 RBI
1894 NL Hugh Duffy BSN .440, 18 HR, 145 RBI
1887 AA Tip O'Neill STL .435, 14 HR, 123 RBI
1878 NL Paul Hines PRO .358, 4 HR, 50 RBI

Albert’s got a shot. Right now he has the NL and ML lead in HR’s with 38 and the NL and ML lead in RBI with 102. Mark Reynolds has 36 HR’s and Price Fielder has 100 RBI, so it’s not like he can coast to the finish.

Albert is tied for 3rd with Todd Helton @ .327 and has Pablo Sandoval batting .329 and Hanley Ramirez batting .351 ahead of him. Albert does in fact have a realistic shot at it but more than anything he needs Hanley to slump. With only 46 games left for Albert and 48 games left for Hanley there isn’t much time left. Averages are harder to move towards the end of the season because of the number of at bats and that compounds the problem.

If Albert is going to be able to catch Hanley, it will have as much to do with stuff out of his control as it will with stuff that is in his control because he will need Hanley to slump. Hanley won’t get many days off down the stretch because the Marlins are in a pennant race so it’s not like he can sit out at all and protect his lead.

I don’t recall the last person to have a legitimate shot going down the stretch but this one has the chance to be real exciting. Enjoy. I’m not sure why, but I think we are going to be in for a treat. - Robert FairchildRobert

Fairchild is a professional sports gaming professional. He legally wages on professional and collegiate sporting events for a living. Robert is NOT suggesting that you quit your day job and try to wager on sports for a living. He is contributing his thoughts and experience to assist you in a recreational activity that you as an informed adult may choose to take part in. Robert will NOT give specific wagering advice on any particular proposition in this forum.

Pablo Sandoval - our Giant

Let me first preface this by stating that I am in fact the biggest San Francisco Giants fan in the nation. No doubt. Chris Mad Dog Russo would be considered a fair-weathered fan by my standards.

The Giants have been able to produce pitchers out of their farm system, but almost no hitters, literally.

Let’s take a look at the Best Position Players Drafted or Developed since Matt Williams (1986 Draft):

C - Doug Mirabelli
1B - John Bowker
2B - Deivi Cruz
SS - Royce Clayton
3B - Bill Mueller
LF - Fred Lewis
CF - Chris Singleton
RF - Armando Rios

What amazes me is that the past 20 years of development futility haven't been orchestrated by the same group. The keys have been given to a couple of general managers, a bunch of player development types, and scores of minor league instructors and managers. Not one of them could come up with something better than Bill Mueller!

So when a rotund, fully developed hitting machine emerges from the River Styx to hit .340, we're going to notice. Here's a fun link: 22-year-olds (or younger) who put up an average over .300 in more than 200 plate appearances. It's premature to include Sandoval here right now, as he's still in the middle of his season. He could slump horribly. If Sandoval slumped his way down to a .300 average, he'd still join a list of pretty good players -- Dan Driessen, Kent Hrbek, and Gary Matthews. There are some non-stars, of course. Juan Uribe's there (Coors-aided) and the specter of Jeff Francoeur always seems to follow our hero around.

If Sandoval were to keep his average as high as it is for a full season, he'd be in the company of guys like Jimmie Foxx, Al Kaline, and Hank Aaron. And, uh, Ron Fairly. But it's hard to hit even .320 as a 22-year-old without following it up with a sustained, high-level peak.

But average is kinda sorta useless on its own. Pablo Sandoval's OPS+ right now is at 149 -- if he were to sustain it, he'd join some ridiculous company. It's far, far more likely that Sandoval ends closer to the league average than at a historical level, which would still be impressive.

Sandoval's the same age as a lot of the college draftees from last year -- Buster Posey, Justin Smoak, and Gordon Beckham -- but he's tearing up the majors right now. If that doesn't mean he's the result of a laboratory experiment to splice the genes of Tony Gwynn and Mel Ott, then I'm not sure if I believe in anything anymore.

Here's what impresses me more than the bucket of historical stats, though: Sandoval already seems like he's adjusted his approach. The first couple of weeks, Sandoval was swinging at everything. Even when he slumped to start the season, he hacked his way out. Then someone said something like, "Have you ever tried not swinging at pitches above your head?", and Sandoval thought, hey, that's a good idea. Since then, he's actually taking an occasional walk. If he walks twice today, he'll lead the freaking team in walks. That kind of makes me want to punch something, but it also makes me feel like Pablo has already improved in-season. Sandoval doesn't need to walk to be a great player -- he just needs to walk enough to make the opposing pitcher know it's a reasonably possible outcome for any at-bat.

Pablo. Pablo. Pablo. Pablo. Pablo. We've waited a long time for a homegrown hitter to excite us like this………. Mike Cruise

Michael Cruise claims to be the biggest SF Giants fan in the nation. He certainly seems to know his Giants. Thanks Mike for a great post!

P.S. – Mike seemed to suggest that he would keep us updated on the Giants “inside stuff”. We look forward to it.