Albert Pujols plans to go into the 2019 season as a first baseman and make “as many games as possible” after recently undergoing knee surgery that ended his season prematurely.
The fact that 2-way player Shohei Ohtani would probably only be available as a designated hitter due to an upcoming Tommy John surgery is irrelevant: “Whether we have Shohei or not, I prepare myself every year to play first base, because that’s my position,” Pujols told reporters on Monday. “I couldn’t do it in 2015 and 2016 because I was hurt, but I prepare for it every year.”
Pujols turns 39 in January and is still under contract for another three years, his outstanding salary is 87 million dollars. This season Pujols played 70 of his 134 games as First Baseman, more than twice as many as in the previous two seasons.
Ohtani has been convincing since his return as DH and already hit four home runs in September, and he also showed significant improvements against left-handed players with whom he still had problems at the start of the season. If he decides to have the elbow operation, he could not pitch again until 2020 at the earliest. But beating wouldn’t be a problem.
Pujols explained that he opted for immediate knee surgery, as the Angels already had no chance of making the playoffs: “I could have played easily until the end of the season, but it felt steadily worse and we had to fix it now. The early appointment will not affect his off-season training.
Pujols also underwent a procedure on his left elbow the week before to relieve pain. The next step is an operation on the right elbow to remove bone chipping.
This article was published without previous view by the Major League Baseball.