Albert Pujols Criticizes 'Geniuses' Who Don't Credit RBI After Getting No. 2,000

Albert Pujols continued etching his name in the MLB record book Thursday, becoming the fifth player in history to drive in 2,000 runs.

Pujols recorded his 2,000th RBI with a solo home run in the third inning of the Angels' victory over the Detroit Tigers. After the game, Pujols took time out of his postgame interview with reporters to criticize those who denigrate RBI. 

"To win games, you have to drive runs in," Pujols told reporters. "I know right now there's a lot of geniuses that don't want to give credit to RBIs."

Runs batted in has received less attention in recent years due to the proliferation of advanced metrics. The amount of runs a player drives in is in part predicated by the success of his teammates and therefore is not always a great assessment of an individual player's accomplishments. 

The Los Angeles Angels slugger previously passed Lou Gehrig and Barry Bonds on the all-time list this season and is fifth in RBI overall.

Assuming he continues to receive regular playing time through the duration of his contract, which runs through the 2021 season, Pujols should easily move into third place on the all-time RBI list. He currently sits 297 RBI behind all-time leader Hank Aaron. It would likely require Pujols playing a year or two past his current contract to pass Aaron and second-place Babe Ruth (2,214).

“When somebody brings it up to me—you passed this guy, or you’re only two away from this guy — I’m aware of it,” Pujols told reporters after passing Gehrig. “But I think the last thing you wanna do is put your focus on that, because it’s not about that. You put the focus on the team, and because you do that everything else is going to fall in place.

“Let’s face it, not all the time you’re gonna come through and drive the guy in. But for the most part I’ve done a pretty good job in my career, and that’s something that I can say I’m proud of.”

Barring some sort of injury or benching, Pujols should continue moving up the all-time list in a number of categories. He'll wind up 15th on the all-time hits list if current projections hold, passing up the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, among others. Passing Willie Mays for fifth on the all-time home runs list will require a little bit of extra power than he's displayed this season, but Pujols should get past him in 2020. He is also two doubles away from passing Carl Yastrzemski for eighth place on that list.

While he's not the perennial MVP candidate he was in St. Louis, Pujols is the greatest slugger of his generation and a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Perhaps more importantly to some fans: He's done it all without any of the asterisks that have marred some of the names ahead of him on some lists.