2007 MLB Fantasy: Albert Pujols
Why the St. Louis Cardinals Slugger is the Best Fantasy Player Ever
Making the top pick of your 2007 MLB Fantasy draft or bidding on a top player in a draft auction can be overwhelming. Albert Pujols, however, makes things a lot easier.
Anyone who plays fantasy baseball knows how tough it is to make the first pick of the draft, or to decide how much to bid on any top player in an auction. In 2004 and 2005, fantasy owners struggled to decide who was the most valuable among Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols. In 2006, the top choice was narrowed down to Pujols and A-Rod. Anyone who picked A-Rod first, or who laid out big bucks for him in an auction-style draft, ended up being very sorry.
This year, Albert Pujols is finally the consensus Number One fantasy pick. But when thousands of baseball writers and fantasy pundits all agree on something as important as the best fantasy player, it usually means that something is very, very wrong. Not this time. Albert Pujols is the best fantasy player alive. He will be the best for a long time. Here’s why.
When making a top pick, or blowing the bank on a great player, a fantasy owner needs to take a lot of factors into account, including: the previous year’s fantasy statistics; the player’s consistency in putting up those numbers, the strength of his team’s lineup, his age and his injury history. Pujols gets an "A" in every category.
The 2006 Season: Albert Pujols’s Fantasy Statistics
In 2006, Pujols had another brilliant season. He was the best hitter in the game, and he was also the best fantasy player, even though he missed nineteen games. His final statistics for the season were as follows: a .331 Average, 49 Home Runs, 137 RBI, 119 Runs, and a .431 On-Base Percentage.
Albert Pujols’s Fantasy Track Record is Second to None.
Since the dawn of the fantasy baseball era, Pujols has been the very best. Year in and year out, Prince Albert has posted the best numbers in the Majors. Even Barry Bonds’s historic six year run from 1999-2004 does not measure up to Phat Albert’s annual averages from 2001-2006. Take a look:
Bonds (1999-2004): .328 Average, 48 Home Runs, 105 RBI, 117 Runs, 10 SB
Pujols (2001-2006): .332 Average, 42 Home Runs, 128 RBI, 127 Runs, 6 SB
It is close, but Pujols beats Bonds by a few composite points. In fact, in the entire history of baseball, only two players have put up numbers during the first six years of their careers that compare to Albert: Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. That’s not bad company. Of course, Joltin' Joe and Teddy Ballgame played well before the age of fantasy baseball. Too bad.
Albert Pujols Is Young and Consistently Healthy.
Keep in mind that Pujols is just 27 years old. Traditionally, players get better as they move into their late 20’s and early 30’s. He is also a workhorse who rarely misses time. Pujols has played in an average of 156 games a year over the course of his career. He has had only one season where he missed more than eight games. That was 2006, and it obviously didn’t hurt his statistics. Pujols is healthy, durable and very, very tough. Of course an injury can happen at any time, but fantasy owners can rest assured that Phat Albert will play unless he breaks a bone in two. He's no Carl Pavano, that's for sure.
Albert Pujols deserves to be the first pick in every league’s 2007 MLB Fantasy draft.
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