Albert Pujols: Can He Hit .300/100/30 Again This Year?

Over the course of his tremendous career, Albert Pujols has put together an incredible string of numbers which have become almost a trademark for him. It's the reason he's "The Machine." In his career, every season he's batted .300, hit 30 home runs and batted in 100 runs. 

It deserves a little discussion to put that into perspective. First, no other player in the history of Major League Baseball has ever had such numbers in the first two years of their career, much less the first 10. In fact, no other player has put up such numbers 10 straight years at any point in their careers. Furthermore, in the history of the game, only Babe Ruth, with 12, has more total such seasons in his career. 

Manny Ramirez and Lou Gehrig are tied with Pujols for second at 10. Gehrig has the second longest streak of such seasons with nine (1929-1937). 

Due to an early season slump, the longest and worst of his career, Pujols is in danger of seeing that incredible string come to an end. Could his monumental streak come to an end? The streak has never been more in jeopardy than it is now. 

The home run end of the streak is not likely to be a problem. Pujols presently is tied with teammate Lance Berkman for the National League lead in round trippers with 28. Having won the home run title in the NL the last two seasons, it's a safe bet that he'll hit another two before season's end.

The RBI chase is a little bit tighter. He's knocked in 72 so far this season, or about .69 RBI per game. Considering the Cardinals have 44 games remaining, if he plays in all remaining games and maintains the same pace, he'd hit in 102 RBI on the season. That's not a lock, but considering he's been hitting much better lately, it's a reasonable bet.

Where things get dicey is the .300 batting average. After going 4-for-4 last night, Pujols raised his batting average to a season high .284. He'll need to raise his batting average 16 points over the last quarter of the season in order to maintain the streak.

The slump obscures things a bit. While he got off to a horrible start, since the end of the slump, he's been typically "Pujolsesque," hitting .312 over his last 50 games. Over that stretch, he's averaged 4.04 at bats per game. Again, projecting the 44 remaining games, that would give him 177 more over the course of the season.

In order to raise his average to .300 in those 177 at bats, he would need to get 60 more hits this year, or hit roughly .339 over the duration of the year. That's 22 points better than he's hit during any month this year. However it's also worth mentioning that over the course of his career, his August (.343) and September/October (.338) splits are his best months. 

With most players, it would seem a reach to suggest that they could boost their average 16 points in the last six weeks of the season, ,but we're not talking about most players. It will be interesting to watch Pujols as the season winds to a close to see if he can boost his average over that .300 mark.