The 42-year old has been hitting the cover off the ball throughout August. On Monday, he added another dinger to his tally, No. 8 of the month and No. 694 of his career.
This moonshot came with distinction, though; by taking Reds pitcher Ross Detweiler deep, Pujols became the first player to hit a homer off 450 different pitchers. Pujols had previously been deadlocked with Barry Bonds at 449 different pitchers.
It’s another accolade in a laundry list of them for Prince Albert, who has turned back the clock as a platoon hitter who primarily bats against lefties. He entered Monday’s game with a 146 OPS+. In terms of OPS+, that would make for Pujols’ best hitting season since the last year of his first tenure with St. Louis in 2011.
It’s not quite the record Pujols is chasing after; he’s in a feverish charge for Homer No. 700. However, Pujols’ accomplishment certainly represents another feather in his cap.
MORE: Albert Pujols home run tracker
Complete list of pitchers Albert Pujols has homered off of
Pujols has homered off of 450 different MLB pitchers. He found his most success against former Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster, who he took deep eight different times over the course of his career. Talk about a favorable matchup.
Here are the 450 different pitchers Pujols has hit dingers off of over the course of his Hall-of-Fame career:
