Kuzul

Ready for one of those overused “What if I told you…” lead-ins?

Very well. Here it is: What if I told you before the start of the 2012 season that Albert Pujols would not be the best hitter in the Los Angeles Angels‘ lineup by the time we got to mid-June?

Naturally, you wouldn’t have believed me. But here we are in mid-June, and Prince Albert is plodding along with a .260 batting average and a .753 OPS. If his name wasn’t Albert Pujols, he wouldn’t stand out at all next to his fellow Angels regulars.

There are at least two Angels hitters who are having better seasons than Pujols right now: 20-year-old phenom outfielder Mike Trout and slugging all-purpose man Mark Trumbo. The two of them have been excellent this season, and their numbers put Pujols’ numbers to shame.

Courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs, here are the need-to-know numbers for all three players:

*wOBA is a FanGraphs stat that “measures and captures offensive value more accurately and comprehensively” than batting average, OBP, and slugging percentage.

**oWAR is offensive WAR, a version of WAR that takes defensive contributions out of the equation.

From these numbers, it’s pretty clear that Pujols’ offensive contributions don’t come close to matching those of Trout and Trumbo, who are statistically two of the best hitters in the American League.

How’s that for expert analysis?

Now don’t be alarmed, but I’m reading your mind right now. What you’re thinking is that it’s not fair to compare season numbers seeing as how Pujols basically spent the first six weeks of the season trying to hit marbles with a fishing rod.

Yup, it was that bad. In his first 36 games as an Angel, Pujols hit .212/.248/.288 with a single home run and 14 RBI. It was ugly.

It was so ugly, in fact, that the Angels decided to fire hitting coach Mickey Hatcher in the middle of May. Officially, Hatcher wasn’t fired because of his apparent inability to solve the Pujols mystery, but you didn’t have to be a rocket surgeon to read between the lines.

Hatcher was fired on May 15. Ever since May 16, Pujols has looked much more like his usual self.

Here’s a look at how his key numbers since May 16 compare to those of Trout and Trumbo:

Over the last 30 days, Pujols has a .437 wOBA. Trumbo’s wOBA over the last 30 days is .439 and Trout’s is .447.

So over the last month, Pujols has produced on pretty much the same level as Trout and Trumbo. It’s actually a little uncanny how closely their numbers stack up against one another.

What this tells us is that Pujols’ slump earlier in the season was not brought about by old age or an excess of mileage from his 11-year tenure with the St. Louis Cardinals. The more logical explanations are that he was trying to do too much to live up to his massive contract, and that his mechanics were totally out-of-whack.

The scary part is that Pujols is only getting hotter. Through 10 June games, he’s hitting .361 with a .439 wOBA.

All of these numbers suggest pretty clearly that Pujols is in no way an inferior hitter compared to Trout and Trumbo, and that should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody. In fact, merely saying that borders on stating the obvious.

Between the three of them, Pujols has the best odds of staying on a roll for the rest of the season. He’s locked in at the plate, and he’s had more than enough time to adjust to American League pitching. Furthermore, his track record says that sustained success is in the cards because, well, he’s one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.

There are no such guarantees when it comes to Trout and Trumbo. Trout has had no trouble hitting so far this season, but it’s just a matter of time before teams sniff out and exploit his weaknesses. As good as Trout is, it’s hard to imagine a 20-year-old with limited big league experience hitting .350 for an entire season. That’s a rare occurrence.

Trumbo is a different story because he has considerably more professional experience than Trout, and he already has one full year of big league service under his belt. You can see his experience paying off this season, as he’s just not missing mistake pitches when he gets them.

His numbers are likely to take a hit once pitchers get the gist that it’s not a good idea to challenge him in any way, but he still has plenty of hits and plenty of long balls left in him.

That doesn’t mean he’s a bigger threat than Pujols, though. Both Trout and Trumbo likely wouldn’t dare put themselves on the same level as Pujols, nor should they. They’re just getting started, and he’s a legend.

So the answer to our big question is this: Pujols is most certainly not the third-most dangerous hitter in the Angels’ lineup. He’s done enough over the last month to prove that he can still hit with the best of ’em, including his two younger teammates. At the very least, he is on the same level as Trout and Trumbo.

Because he’s Albert Pujols, you better believe teams are more afraid of him than they are of Trout and Trumbo.

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