Best all around hitter in baseball today

Is anyone even on the same level as Albert Pujols?



I can't bring myself to even come up with an argument for another player.



His worst batting average in a season is .314

The least amount of home runs he's hit in a season is 32

The least amount of RBI he's had in a season is 103



It's amazing to me that these are his worst stats. He's just ridiculous. Pressure situations don't get to him at all... He has a career .323 postseason batting average.(and with his postseason stats stretched out to a full season's worth, he'd have 40 home runs and 109 RBI)




I dare you to find a player even close to him. I double dare you. That means you have to do it.

 

Ryan Braun. Hitting .300, 34 HRs, 95 RBI, only his second year in the majors.

Hey, you just said find someone close. I think Braun is going to be on the same level as Pujols as time goes on. This kid is going to be a huge offensive threat in the years to come.

 

Pujols' eight seasons are on the same level as Frank Thomas' '90-'97, Jimmie Foxx's '32-'39, Mantle's '55-'62, and Ted Williams' '39-'42 and '46-'49. Now, if you know me, you know that I firmly believe Teddy Ballgame is the best hitter ever, so my comparing Albert to him is the highest compliment I can pay a ballplayer.

It truly is a battle for second place. A-Rod's numbers are excellent all-around, but his BA, OBP, SLG are significantly behind Pujols and in the company of several other players. Lance Berkman has to be in the discussion, as he hits home runs, is a career .300 hitter who can take a walk, and is in the midst of an excellent season. Ryan Braun is a tremendous talent, but he has to take walks and not strike out so much to be a great player. A league-average OBP doesn't cut it when talking about all-timers. Manny is too old at this point, though he was the best for about five years. Milton Bradley is arguably the best hitter in the American League at the moment, but he might snap and go on a killing spree across the midwest, or worse, return to his career averages. I'm not enamored with Teixeira the same way many others seem to be at this point, and while Josh Hamilton is good, he's not anywhere close to the top ten in the game.

It's pretty clear that Pujols is head and shoulders above the pack. If I have to pick a number 2, I'd probably go with Berkman, whose .304/.414/.564 line stacks up the best against Pujols' Ruthian figures, with the switch-hitter's career .321 postseason batting average certainly helping him earn the spot.

 

Chipper jones

 

Not quite enough power, but Chipper is one of my top ten.

 

I'm a big fan of Chipper, which is not surprising since I'm a Braves fan... but while he deserves to be in the conversation for the top hitters today, I don't know that I can put him at number 1. Though, if it hadn't been for his injuries, I think he'd have Hall-of-Fame-lock numbers.

Pujols and A-Rod definitely are way, way up on this list too, though.

Braun's got talent, but - and this goes for Hamilton as well - its too early to put his name in this discussion. I think a player needs at least a few years under his belt, if not more than a few, before they get into this discussion.

Also:

Milton Bradley is arguably the best hitter in the American League at the moment, but he might snap and go on a killing spree across the midwest, or worse, return to his career averages.

 

The answer is Casey Blake.


Think about this question: You need someone to come up to the plate and GiDP. Do you trust anyone other than Casey Blake to do it?

I didn't think so.

Anyone with that level of control over what happens when ball hits bat has to be the best.

 

Poor Inty. I suppose I shouldn't mention Travis Hafner.

Excluding youngsters (which I'll define as less than five full seasons in the majors; this is important, since there are a bunch of baby bashers), here are my top ten hitters in the game:

1. Albert Pujols - No explanation needed.
2. Lance Berkman - He came in third in the 2006 NL MVP voting, and he's playing extremely well this year. A switch-hitter who can hit for both power and average? Gotta love it.
3. Alex Rodriguez - While he walks too infrequently and strikeouts out too often for a $25m man, he's still got one of the best combinations of average and slugging in the league.
4. David Ortiz - He's had injuries, but the man knows his craft. Nobody is better at working the count. His power is fantastic and his clutch hitting is well chronicled, but Papi has also hit .300 three of the last four seasons.
5. Milton Bradley - He's what Carl Everett wanted to be: a crazy dude who can win the batting title and lead the league in OPS. If he sustains his success in Texas, Milton is going to shoot up this list and win some MVPs.
6. Mark Teixeira - While he isn't worth the $200m Boras is going to demand for him, the guy is a borderline .300 hitter who can crank out about 35 home runs. That's a great deal.
7. Chipper Jones - While his power isn't what it once was, it still is good enough, and Chip can still whack those line drives and get on-base. If it weren't for the mind-boggling Pujols, he'd easily claim the batting title he's long deserved.
8. Manny Ramirez - He's getting old, but the guy can still crush the ball. 2008 will be his 10th season hitting .300 with 30 home runs, which is really impressive. And he does all that with an OBP over .400.
9. Miguel Cabrera - Just qualifying for consideration, his somewhat disappointing, though still quite reasonable, 2008 nearly cost him his spot on the list. But with the possible exception of Bradley, I think the young Tiger is the American League's most well-equipped to win the Triple Crown.
10. JD Drew - While he's not Mickey Mantle, like some hoped he would be, he's still a guy who hits for pretty good power with a high OBP. He's capable of carrying a team for a month or six weeks, and there are few in the league who can.

When you look at that list, you realize the impact young players are having on the game. Hanley Ramirez, David Wright, Ryan Braun, Joe Mauer, Grady Sizemore, Matt Holliday, Dustin Pedroia, Carlos Quentin. All guys with less than five full years of major league service. At least three of the guys I named two sentences ago would have been shoo-ins for my top ten list.

 

why'd you leave out ty cobb as one of the greatest of all time? career way over .300 (the lowest season he ever has was his last, i believe, at .298ish). managed to have three consecutive years over .400, and has the highest batting average over the course of a season. he also showed that if he'd wanted to he could have hit in the same league as babe ruth, and probably out scored him in home runs. over the course of a two or three week stretch (after alerting the media to watch) he hit more than 10 HRs, more than 7 triples, even more doubles, and was on base more often than not (don't hold me to these numbers, it's been four years or so since i read the auto/biography about him and i'm about 90% sure that the numbers were higher). this was in his last two years in baseball.

also he had one of my favorite alltime stories ocncerning baseball. he was warming up before a game and a member of the opposing team came over to him and bet cobb that he couldn't hit the ball into the bullpen. cobb took the bet, and not only proceeded to hit the ball into the bullpen three consecutive times... he hit the other teams starting pitcher in the shoulder all three times. (admitedly this may be hyperbole, but still for someone to have a story about that kind of accuracy spread about them is amazing).

i think ty cobb has to at least be considered in that list you had.

as for today, i have no real arguement against pujols.

:snoopy

 

why'd you leave out ty cobb as one of the greatest of all time?

Thread title: Best all around hitter in baseball today

 

You have to understand that Cobb is dead so he'd probably only be #2 today.

 

I think he was replying to Onoto who listed a bunch of all time greats to compare Pujols to.

 

indeed, armenian is on target with this. should have put that in the post. apologies.

and if you read the bottom i believe i did reply to the topic at hand, that no i couldn't think of anyone who was a better batter at the moment than pujols.

:snoopy

 

Oh, when I listed eight seasons by Thomas, Foxx, Mantle, and Williams? I wasn't so much making a list as just citing some excellent spans fairly comparable to Pujols'. Cobb was a great ballplayer, but his style of hitting is not in any way similar to any of the other guys I named.