Having done so 116 times in his career, we can say that Albert Pujols has been — for the most part — a competent base stealer. But as we saw on Thursday, those days of competent base stealing are a thing of the past.
With his St. Louis Cardinals trailing 1-0 against the Milwaukee Brewers and with the always tough Brandon Woodruff on the mound, Pujols decided to get aggressive. On second base with one out, Pujols took off for third well before Woodruff even went into his motion. The good news for Pujols is that he clearly caught Woodruff off guard. The bad news? Even being caught off guard, Woodruff still had more than enough time to record a fairly easy out.
First time Albert Pujols has been caught stealing since September 19, 2015
He successfully stole 14 bases in a row since then pic.twitter.com/ulgcihCMym
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 14, 2022
MLB fans watching along took to Twitter to roast the future Hall of Famer.
No rocket scientist, but I think your days of stealing bags are over Pujols. https://t.co/z6bIWISEad
— ben selby (@BenZelby) April 15, 2022
When you accidentally steal in MLB The Show and you get a triple minus for baserunning and stealing https://t.co/IHvxWcfsmb
— average shohei ball watcher (@shiestyohtani) April 15, 2022
Didn't have 42-year-old Albert "Already Slow in his Prime" Pujols trying to steal third on my bingo card https://t.co/RRjZyxwWcd
— Dan Hiner (@DanHiner_Sports) April 15, 2022
Buddy runs like a drunk dad who thinks he’s still got it https://t.co/auAoXBH6rm
— Chance Muschaweck (@c_muschaweck) April 14, 2022
Uncle Albert was in 6th gear here https://t.co/i9a5KoKHEl
— Heath (@Heath_Wiggins12) April 14, 2022
old man wanted to feel some adrenaline 😭 https://t.co/HcsbHjPKr8
— ant (@3StarUser) April 14, 2022
What is this. What's the goal here. https://t.co/jmtDmetleF
— Avi Steele (@captain_avious) April 14, 2022
From a strategy standpoint, we can understand was Pujols was thinking here. The traditional logic in baseball is to not make the first or third out at third base. The second out is much more forgivable. Getting to third with less than two outs, especially against a good pitcher, is a potentially big advantage.
And in his career, Pujols has used his brains to steal a lot of bases. He knows how to read pitchers’ moves and take advantage of the fact that opposing defenses aren’t that concerned with holding him on base. For the most part, that worked well here.
The problem is, even if you get a good jump and the defense isn’t holding you close, some speed is required to steal a base. While never a burner on the bases, Pujols has had that speed for much of his career. Those days appear to be a thing of the past now, though. Pujols would do well to focus entirely on driving the ball out of the park — something he can still do.