Is Albert Pujols Already the Greatest Right-Handed Hitter Ever?

Had a fun time looking at the Cardinals/Reds boxscore today. Apparently Chris Carpenter is Babe Ruth; not only did he pitch five innings of scoreless, one-hit ball this afternoon, he went 2/3 with a homer and six RBI. Meanwhile, MVP shoo-in Albert Pujols went 0/3 with two walks, sending his averaging crashing down to .328.

It got me thinking; I haven't seen Pujols jacking homers on Sportscenter for a while. I clicked on his game log and learned, much to my surprise, that he hasn't homered in 18 games. How insane is it, then, that he has an 18-game homerless drought and still has 47 home runs and 134 RBI on the season?

I've come to a realization, one that many other online sports betting sharps and baseball pundits may share with me: Albert Pujols may already be the greatest right-handed hitter ever to play the game of baseball. If he isn't yet, he will be very soon.

First, let's look at the prolific "start" to his career -- as good as any player's in the history of the game:

2001: .329, 37 HR, 129 RBI

2002: .314, 34 HR, 127 RBI

2003: .359, 43 HR, 127 RBI

2004: .331, 46 HR, 123 RBI

2005: .330, 41 HR, 117 RBI

20006: .331, 49 HR, 137 RBI

2007: .327, 32 HR, 103 RBI

2008: .357, 37 HR, 116 RBI

2009: .334, 47 HR, 134 RBI

How absurd is that? Where do we begin? The durability, the consistency.

Fun facts:

* His career OPS is 1.056

* He's walked 808 times and struck out just 569 times in his career

* His average career season is .334 with 43 homers and 129 RBI

It's almost as if he woke up in the middle of his prime. His entire career consists of one constant, MVP-level performance standard. There are only two possible explanations for those numbers:

1. Pujols is secretly in his late thirties and started his career in his peak years, like Ichiro;

2. Pujols is the greatest right-handed hitter of all time.

Who else compares to him? We have to throw McGwire and Sosa out the window for obvious reasons, so three names come to mind: Hank Aaron, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez, the latter two of which are now also "convicted" PED users. But for the sake of argument, let's examine their numbers.

* Hank Aaron won one MVP Award, hit .305 for his career, and posted eight 40-homer seasons in 23 years. Pujols is a career .334 hitter and has five 40-homer seasons at age 29 in his ninth major-league season. He is a two-time MVP on the verge of winning his third award.

* Manny Ramirez may be Pujols' closest challenger, but his phenomenal career average season marks (.313, 40 HR, 131 RBI) still fall short of Pujols'; Manny is older, but his numbers through his first nine Major-League seasons don't match Pujols'. Manny strikes out 128 times per season on average; Pujols strikes out 66 times per season.

* Alex Rodriguez has prolific power numbers, including three 50-homer seasons. However, he's posted batting averages below .314 -- the lowest single-season average of Pujols' career -- 10 times.

While I'd bet at the sportsbook that someone can find a way to twist the numbers against Pujols, the ones I've laid down are tough to ignore. Let's remember; Albert Pujols is only 29 according to his public birth records. Lefty hitting legend Barry Bonds didn't have his first 40-homer season until he was 29.

How terrifying is it that Albert Pujols could get better? Gulp.