Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s OK, though, we’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning, and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end, or at least until after you subscribe to the newsletter.
Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
★★★
It appears that The Machine has been rebooted. We’re in the late part of June, and one of the leading power hitters in the American League right now (as evidenced by his AL-leading 23 home runs) is none other than Albert Pujols. Remember him? The guy the Angels decided to pay $240 million to over 10 seasons of what was surely going to be a decline? For the first three seasons, it seemed like this was going to be a swift decline. But sometimes, machines have to get updates, and it appears that this particular machine is running on fresh software.
Right now, Albert Pujols is hitting .275/.336/.581 with the 23 home runs and a FanGraphs WAR of 2.3. For comparison’s sake, his fWAR for the entire 2014 season was 2.9. Those numbers are boosted by what’s been an amazing month of June for Pujols: He’s been hitting at a clip of .351/.429/.878 with 12 homers, including two dingers on Monday night against the Astros. The software update came just in time, apparently.
So, it’s obvious that Pujols is on track for what should be his best season as an Angel. It may pale in comparison to the staggering list of accolades and achievements that he racked up in St. Louis, but for a guy who’s edging closer to 40 than 30, this is about all you can ask for (and then some). The latest version of The Machine that is Albert Pujols may not be the greatest version, but it’s one that will definitely benefit the rest of the Angels’ operating system.
- Baseball history was made yesterday, and the culprit was a 16-year-old girl from France.
- Pete Rose probably wasn’t getting reinstated or inducted into the Hall of Fame any time soon, and his chances took another stiff hit yesterday.
- In extremely sad news, former MLB veteran and MLB Network analyst Darryl Hamilton was shot and killed in a murder-suicide.
- Roberto Osuna accomplished a semi-rare feat in today’s era of baseball: A two-inning save!
- Further proof that the Cardinals’ “hack” of the Astros’ database was extremely unsophisticated: Whoever did it tried to cover their tracks and did a horrible job at it.
- Kris Bryant hit two homers last night. One of those homers came off of a curveball from Clayton Kershaw. That’s special.
- Angels manager Mike Scioscia believes that even though baseball survived PEDs, it probably wouldn’t survive if the participants were all involved with gambling on the games.
- Zach Hample has been catching baseballs all over the country for a while now. Now that he’s got his hands on Alex Rodriguez’s 3,000th hit, he’s been weighing his options.
- Meanwhile in the minor leagues, the center fielder for the Billings Mustangs made a catch that has Vice Sports trying to figure out whether it was real or some wacky optical illusion.
See More:
