Katie Woo of The Athletic reports that the St. Louis Cardinals‘ Albert Pujols will participate in the 2022 T-Mobile Home Run Derby next Monday night at Dodger Stadium.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced last Friday that Pujols and the Detroit Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera would participate in the All-Star Game as legacy selections.
Pujols is a three-time MVP and two-time World Series champion, and he’s now an 11-time All-Star Game selection. He has 684 career home runs and entered play on Monday with a .916 career OPS.
And on Monday night in the Cardinals’ game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Pujols became No. 3 on MLB’s all-time extra-base hits list — behind only Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds — with this double:
It’s been an incredible career for Pujols that will land him in the Baseball Hall of Fame one day.
But Pujols is now a 42-year-old with five homers and a .674 OPS in 2022 (his final season), and he’s many years removed from being an above-average major-league hitter. So, the announcement of his Home Run Derby participation has drawn very mixed reactions from baseball fans.
Here’s a sampling of how the baseball world has reacted to the news that Pujols will in the Home Run Derby:
oh heck yeah https://t.co/z8MwN3wXfQ
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) July 11, 2022
Pujols doing the Home Run Derby in 2022 is awesome
— Steve Perrault (@Steve_Perrault) July 11, 2022
https://twitter.com/JATayler/status/1546646635475877888
When you have a chance to put a 42 year old man with 5 home runs in the derby over people that actually deserve the chance, you just have to do it!
— Corey Freedman (@corey_cubs) July 12, 2022