Bautista vs. Pujols (Rest of this year)

[Fat Tony]

Who do you guys think will be the better hitter the rest of this year...Pujols or Bautista?

I'm gonna go with Bautista but I gotta say...it was awesome to see Pujols get back on track these past 2 games.

[RickD]

Hard to say. Logic would say Bautista but I would not count Albert out yet.

[wcs71401]

I for some reason am still not a believer in Bautista. I don't know why I am hesitant. He has been able to prove that he is as good/better than last season.

[Mudge]

2011 (career average)

Bautista: .331 BABIP (.274); LD% 18.7 (15.3); GB% 35.3 (38.9); FB% 46.0 (48.5)
Pujols: .261 BABIP (.313); LD% 15.3 (18.8); GB% 47.7 (40.9); FB% 37.7 (40.1)

Pujols has been hitting grounders at an high rate (for him).

Interestingly, Bautista's numbers for 2010, his breakout year, are as follows: .233 BABIP; 14.4 LD%; 31.1 GB%; 54.5 FB%

What does this all mean? I'd say that Pujols will have a better second third of the year. What happens in the last third is anyone's guess.

[RickD]

Pujols has started slow before.

I think this year the slow start has seemed more pronounced.

[JoshRedcay]

With the numbers Bautista has, it's hard to go against him, although Pujols is still the amazing hitter we have seen in the past and he is now finally starting to find that power again.

Don't count on Bautistas' average to stay above .300 either.

[Stars_Rangers_82]

I think this year the slow start has seemed more pronounced.

Probably mostly due to the free agent title hanging around

[RickD]

Probably mostly due to the free agent title hanging around

And I wonder how much that might truly be affecting things. Is he pressing? Is the contract, or lack thereof, weighing him down? Obviously if he has another good year, his value would be higher whereas an off year could be used to lower his value.

[Mattrd26]

Personally I think Pujols is slightly overrated. But this year Bautista is just better.

[Mudge]

Personally I think Pujols is slightly overrated. But this year Bautista is just better.

Yeah, it's going to tough for Pujols to keep up now that he's on the DL for the next month and a half.

As for his being overrated, I don't happen to agree. The man has been as consistently high a performer as you will find over the last 10 years (82.7 WAR -- wins above replacement -- with a low of 6.0 in 2002 and a high of 10.1 in 2003).

To put that in perspective, Lou Gehrig, arguably the greatest first baseman in baseball history, accumulated a 89.6 WAR in his first 10 full seasons (1925-1934), and he was playing on a team with a few other pretty good sluggers.