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Frank Thomas vs. Albert Pujols


Greg Hibbard
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5-6 years ago I would have thought it would be out of the question to have a debate about who the better career hitter was, but Pujols' recent stat-crash has put his batting line below the Big Hurt's:

Pujols: .302/.382/.554/.936

Thomas: .301/.419/.555/.974

Obviously, Pujols has 112 more homers and 140 more doubles, but Frank has 2000 less PAs (he had many strike and injury shortened seasons) and far more walks.

Who do you think the better hitter is? It's likely that as long as he plays, Albert's career mark will continue to decline...should that count against him in the comparison? He's still younger than Frank was at retirement...

Edited by Greg Hibbard
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Albert's dominance was slightly better (8 years of 1.000+ OPs vs. 6 such years for Frank) but his decline was a hell of lot worse (excusing his shortened retirement season at age 39 and his 20-game 2001, Frank bottomed out at an .834 OPS in 2002, and exceeded .850 in three other complete seasons, .900 in two, and 1.000 in one, while Albert has six consecutive years of a sub-.800 OPS, including his .672 effort in 2017 and a .700 effort this year).

I'll take Frank, no questions asked.

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Thomas was a better hitter by a little bit due to the walks comparing their prime but don't forget that young Pujols was a great defender and base runner.

Pujols would get 2-3 war from defense and base running compared to the average 1b. 

Thomas on the other hand was really bad in the field which is why he topped out at 7 war and Pujols at 10.

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59 minutes ago, oldsox said:

Speaking of Big Frank, did hitting coach Walt Hriniak help or hurt Frank?  I always had my doubts.

Overall I think Hriniak helped get the max out of Frank's ability. The only way he may have hurt him is that once Frank bought into the front foot, Charlie Lau style hitting it was hard for him to work with other coaches after Hriniak left. 

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