Albert Pujols: 10 Adjustments He'll Need to Make in the American League

If I had a dollar for every time a National League player moved over to the American League and saw his production drop considerably, I’d be...well, I wouldn’t have Albert Pujols-type money, but you get the idea.

There’s a reason why the American League has been so dominant in the All-Star game, going 12-2 in the last 14 contests. The talent disparity between the two leagues is evident, and the game is played much differently over there as well.

Now that Pujols is a member of the Junior Circuit, he's about to find out just how different things are here.

To that end, here are 10 adjustments Albert Pujols will need to make to maintain his dominance in his new digs.

1. Style of Play

American League baseball is more plodding and monotonous than the National League’s style of play. There are fewer substitutions, pitching changes and steals. There are also not as many intentional walks, etc. 

The Angels play more like an NL team than most AL teams do, but they still play a different style of game than what Albert was used to in St. Louis. His opponents will certainly be playing differently as well.

How quickly can Pujols adjust to the new tempo and style of American League baseball? That remains to be seen.

2. Different Pitchers

After 11 seasons in the National League, Pujols now faces the task of adjusting to a whole new crop of pitchers. As a whole, AL pitchers are considered more talented than their National League counterparts.

Actually, that last point is open to debate, especially with the likes of Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee switching to the NL recently and the emergence of young guns like Ian Kennedy and Clayton Kershaw.

But there’s no debating it will be different. 

Mariano Rivera’s bat-breaking cutter? Justin Verlander’s triple-digit heat? King Felix’s knee-buckling breaking ball?

Pujols can watch all the tape he wants, but there’s no substitute for experience. One would expect it’s going to take some time for him to adjust to the unique talents of AL pitchers.

How much (or how little) time it takes will go a long way towards determining his and the Angels’ performance in 2012 and beyond.

3. The $265 Million Albatross

Stop me if you've heard this before.

Big-time slugger and first baseman is beloved by his teammates and fans. After years of putting up monster numbers, he signs a record deal with the Angels and is expected to fill the leadership void with the team.

Instead, he gets fat, alienates his teammates—not to mention the fans—and is so unproductive that the Angels beg someone, anyone, to take him off their hands.

Sound familiar? When the Angels signed Mo Vaughn in 1998 and made him the highest-paid player in baseball, I was the last person who thought it would end the way it did. But with that kind of money come added expectations and the pressure to meet them.

Look, it’s hard enough to put up the kind of numbers on a consistent basis—like Pujols did for 11 years—to justify a mega deal like the one he just signed.

Once you actually sign a contract like that, though? Fuggeddaboutit.

He better keep producing those monster numbers, or he is going to hear a sound he probably never heard once in St. Louis. Machine or not, when boos are raining down (courtesy of 35,000 dissatisfied customers), who knows how Pujols will react?

Will he snap? Will he press? Will he sulk? Or will he brush it off?

Angel fans are a pretty laid-back bunch, but when someone is making that much money and struggling, you can bet they will let you hear about it.

Just ask Vernon Wells.

4. Lineup Protection

Last season in St. Louis, Pujols had Matt Holliday (.296/22 HR/75 RBI) and Lance Berkman (.301/31 HR/94 RBI) to ensure he got a few decent pitches to hit.

Who’s going to fill that role in Anaheim and how Pujols will adjust are two key questions the Angels have yet to address.

Prospective DH Kendrys Morales has only recently begun baseball activities. That's while he continues to recuperate from his freakishly sustained and devastating broken ankle, which he suffered in May of 2010.

Mark Trumbo is not expected to be ready for spring training either. He's recovering from his own foot injury.

Even when they return, unless one of them learns to play third base, there won’t be a spot in the lineup for both. That means the Angels will potentially have to rely on the likes of (gulp) Vernon Wells or, if Pujols bats third, 36-year-old Torii Hunter to protect him.

Godspeed, Kendrys and Mark. Godspeed.

5. The Designated Hitter

The DH role isn’t for everyone. A lot of guys prefer to play in the field because it keeps their mind and body in the flow of the game. They believe that translates to better results at the plate.

With the exception of interleague play, Pujols never had that option before. More accurately, Tony La Russa never had that option for him.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia, on the other hand, loves to keep his players fresh by giving them a day off from the field every now and then and having them DH.

Pujols will be no exception. How he does as a hitter on those days will depend on how well he adjusts to watching the action from the dugout—as opposed to being a part of it.

6. Defense

Pujols didn’t win his two Gold Gloves by merely being a statue at first base. He is an excellent defensive first baseman.

Part of that, no doubt, was his knowledge and comfort level of his opponents’ tendencies. That was coupled with his ability to position himself accordingly.

With new opponents will come new behaviors. Pujols will need to figure that out all over again.

Sorting out who in the American League is a dead pull hitter, who likes to go the other way with two strikes and who is a first ball, fastball hitter is bound to take time.

7. Ballparks

Pujols played 81 games a year in Busch Stadium. The dimensions between that ballpark and Angel Stadium are almost an exact match.

While it seems like he won’t have much of an adjustment to make, appearances are deceiving.

The lighting at Angel Stadium is different, and the sun sets in a different direction in relation to home plate. All of this impacts how a hitter sees the ball as it’s leaving the pitcher’s hand, not to mention the different sight lines behind center field.

On top of that, Pujols will now be getting his first extended look at Fenway Park, Camden Yards and Safeco Field—along with a host of other new ballparks and their respective layouts.

Pujols has historically done very well in interleague play, but playing a full season in American League ballparks is another matter.

8. Umpiring

While Pujols will be seeing the same old boys in blue behind the plate, he’ll definitely have to adjust to their strike zones when dealing with American League pitching.

Pitchers develop reputations with umpires—we all know this—and since Pujols will be facing different pitchers, in certain instances he’ll be seeing different strike zones.

Figuring out which AL pitchers get the outside corner and which ones get the low strike called is something Pujols will have to deal with all over again.

9. New Rivalries

St. Louis has ongoing feuds with the Cubs, Brewers and other NL Central division rivals. While Albert was a Cardinal, it’s not hard to imagine him getting up for those games.

Now, new rivalries await him. With them come new challenges that must be overcome. With the Angels spending like the Yankees, expect them to be treated like the Yankees.

That's not just by their nemesis Texas and fellow AL West foes, but by pretty much the entire league.

With American League fans getting their first extended look at Pujols, the intensity level will be ramped up every time he steps foot in places like Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. Pujols will need to account for that.

10. Travel

St. Louis is in the Midwest, and that meant a lot of short flights and very few cross-country trips.

Situated on the West Coast, the Angels routinely make five-hour flights throughout the year. Plus, now the Angels have to travel to Texas twice as often as before.

It may be a minor adjustment for him, but one will need to be made nonetheless to accommodate for the changes to Albert’s normal summer travel itinerary.