Pujols reaches 600 HRs, becomes all-time leader in games, ABs

In his final DMBL season, Pujols has settled in as primarily a platoon DH vLHP, with a few games at 1B, for Livingston, where he's had a bit of a resurgence, relatively speaking. The Dominican native also has reached some historic marks in the league's record books this year.

The No. 1 overall draft pick in 2002, Pujols enjoyed his hey day in Philly where he won the Mitchell Award in back to back seasons (2009 and 2010), something done by only two other players (Barry Bonds, 2004-05, and Mike Trout, 2018-19). The all-time slugger hit rock bottom in 2021 when he appeared in 6 games for Erie, going 0-for-15.

It's been a bit of a resurrection in Livingston for Pujols, fulfilling a part-time role with the Lords of Swing. He hasn't put up the gaudy arcade-game like numbers he did early in his career but as the 2023 campaign inches toward a close, he has blasted 24 HRs - the most since he regularly hit 30+ in El Paso a decade ago. He's been so effective as a vLHP DH that he's been issued 15 intentional walks on the season - 2nd in the league only to Mitchell Award front-runner Aaron Judge of Sardine City. He's also managed swipe 2 bags at the age of 42.

While he won't catch Barry Bonds for the all-time home run record (683), Pujols has put himself comfortably into 2nd place, currently 17 ahead of Alex Rodriguez (600). Those three are the only ones to reach the 600 HR plateau. He'll also have to settle for 2nd all-time in RBI, currently with 1,865, a lead of more than 100 on Chipper Jones and Manny Ramirez, but too far behind Bonds (2,038).

Pujols also is unlikely to catch Derek Jeter for the all-time hit record (2,994) and he'll need to get hot to reach Chipper for No. 2 all-time (2,826). He entered play on Sept. 9 with 2,804 hits (22 hits behind Chipper) and 18 games to play.

Pujols already entered the year as the all-time leader in doubles, adding just 5 to his total this year (578). This season, he's set all-time career records in two categories. He became the 1st player in DMBL history to eclipse 10,000 ABs (10,049 and counting) and the 1st to surpass 2,600 games (2,605 and counting). In both categories, he passed Jeter (9,924 ABs, 2,584 games).