Did You Know? Pujols by the numbers

June 4th, 2017

is a surefire Hall of Famer: 2001 National League Rookie of the Year, 10-time All-Star, three-time Most Valuable Player, and two-time World Series champion. Now, he's added yet another accolade to his already lengthy list, becoming the ninth player in Major League history to reach 600 career home runs.
Arguably the greatest hitter of the 2000s, Pujols has had one of the most prolific careers in the history of professional baseball, placing near the top of the league in various offensive categories in nearly every season of his 17-year career.
The man dubbed "The Machine" has churned out 14 30-home run seasons to date, tied with Barry Bonds for the second most in history. Pujols' seven 40-homer seasons equal the totals of Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr. for sixth most all-time. Pujols is also just nine long balls away from tying Sosa for eighth among the career leaders.
:: Albert Pujols 600-HR club coverage ::
There are few men to ever play the game who have been able to drive the ball out of the park as frequently as Pujols. So, in honor of him reaching the incredible milestone, here is everything you need to know about the 600 times he has cleared the fence:
• The most home runs he has hit off of any pitcher is eight (Ryan Dempster). After that, he did most of his homering off Wade Miller (6), Randy Johnson (5), Chris Capuano (5), Roy Oswalt (5), (5), (5), (5).
• Pujols' 445 home runs with the Cardinals trail only Stan Musial (475) in that franchise's storied history. His 600th career homer was his 155th with the Angels, breaking a tie with Bobby Grich for eighth in Halos history, one behind Chili Davis.
• He has clubbed 56 homers against the Cubs, which is the most he's hit against any team. That's the ninth-most homers anyone has hit against the Cubs (Willie Mays had 92). The club he's homered off most other than the Cubs is the Astros, and his 55 jacks against Houston are the most of any player (Hank Aaron is No. 2 with 46 homers against the Astros).
• Pujols hit 30 home runs at PNC Park, the most he's hit at any park aside from Busch Stadium and Angel Stadium. His 30 bombs in Pittsburgh are the most by any player who never played for the Pirates. He also hit 29 homers at Minute Maid Park, the most of any player who never played for the Astros.

• Pujols has homered in 37 different parks, including nine parks that either no longer exist, or are no longer being used by a Major League team.
• Pujols has reached 600 through consistency, without any eye-popping single-season home run numbers. He joins Aaron as the only players to get to the 600 mark without ever hitting 50 in one year. Pujols' high was 49 in 2006, while Aaron topped out at 47 in 1971.

• Pujols has not been a swing-for-the-fences, all-or-nothing hitter through most of his career. His 8.6 at-bats per strikeout ratio is second-highest for a member of the 600 home run club, behind only Aaron (8.94). By contrast, other recent members such as Ken Griffey (5.51), (4.62), Sosa (3.82) and Jim Thome (3.31) struck out far more often.
• Pujols hit 230 homers ahead in the count, which ranks ninth-most all-time; 221 with the count even, which ranks fifth-most all-time; and 149 behind in the count, which is second all-time behind only Rodriguez (153).
• Pujols' 85 homers on 1-1 counts are the most in history, nine more than David Ortiz, who ranks second. His 27 homers on 0-2 counts are also the most all-time, just ahead of Sosa's 26. His 52 homers on 1-2 counts are more than any other player as well. His 81 home runs on a 1-0 count are second-most in history behind Bonds (96). His 69 homers on 0-1 counts are also second-most behind Rodriguez's 82.

• 191 of Pujols' homers were with two strikes (third-most behind Griffey's 197 and Manny Ramirez's 192), 194 were hit with no strikes (11th-most ever), and 215 with one strike.
• He's pulled 295 homers, which ranks second behind Gary Sheffield's 340 among all right-handed hitters; he hit 263 to the middle of the field, which ranks second behind Rodriguez's 318 among all right-handers; and he hit 42 to the opposite field, according to Baseball Reference.
• His top-five home runs of the Statcast™ Era:
• He hit 234 go-ahead homers, 48 game-tying homers, and 12 walkoffs.
• Hit hit 391 homers at night (eighth-most ever), and 209 during the day.
• He's hit 318 on the road, which ranks sixth-most in history ahead of David Ortiz (300) and behind Mays (325). He's hit "just" 282 at home, which is tied for 17th all-time with Ramirez (282).
• He's hit 112 home runs in August, tied with Thome for ninth-most among all big leaguers in the month. His second-most home runs have come in May (110), one shy of tying Harmon Killebrew for eighth all-time in the month. His 103 in April are two behind Rodriguez for second-most in history for the month (Bonds leads with 112).
• Pujols has had 55 multi-homer games, which is tied with Griffey Jr. and Jimmie Foxx for eighth-most in history. His 55 multi-home run games includes 51 two-homer games and four three-homer games.
• He's crushed 14 grand slams -- including the one he hit Saturday night for his 600th homer -- for 20th all-time.
• Pujols has hit 430 homers as a first baseman, which ranks sixth all-time. He's also hit 74 homers as a DH, 64 as a left fielder, 24 as a third baseman, six as a right fielder and two as a pinch-hitter
• Pujols hit 487 of his homers from the third spot in the batting order, third-most in history behind Ken Griffey Jr. (530) and Babe Ruth (553). He also hit 97 homers from the cleanup spot.
• 429 homers came off starters, and 171 off relievers.
• 446 came off right-handed pitchers (fifth-most ever), and 154 came off lefties (tied with Frank Howard for ninth-most ever).
• 219 came between innings 1-3 (sixth-most all-time), 212 between innings 4-6 (eighth-most all-time) and 169 in the 7th inning or later. His 15 homers in extras are the third-most ever behind Frank Robinson (16) and Jack Clark (18).
• 137 of his homers came in the first inning of a game, four more than Bonds for most all-time.
• Pujols has hit 273 homers with men on base (eighth-most in history), and 327 with the bases empty (sixth-most in history). He's hit 153 with runners in scoring position, which ranks him fourth in history.
• His 216 homers with one out rank third all-time, his 195 with two outs rank ninth all-time, and his 189 with no outs rank 12th all-time.
• 150 came on the second pitch of the at-bat, 138 came on the third pitch, 80 came on the fourth pitch, 77 on the first pitch, 77 came on the fifth pitch.
• Pujols' total doesn't count the 19 homers he has hit in the postseason, which ranks fourth all-time behind Ramirez (29), Bernie Williams (22) and Derek Jeter (20), though Pujols has enjoyed far fewer plate appearances (334) than that trio. That includes three homers in Game 3 of the 2011 World Series, for the Cardinals against the Rangers, making Pujols one of four players to go deep three times in a Fall Classic game.