Because of what has happened to power numbers and power hitters during the past decade or so Thomas is often talked about as just another great slugger from this era, but that misses the boat in a big way. Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball and surely everyone would agree that at 29 years old he’s on track to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but look at his numbers compared to Thomas’ stats at the same age:
G PA AVG OBP SLG OPS+ Pujols 1399 6082 .334 .427 .628 172 Thomas 1076 4789 .330 .452 .600 182Pujols has hit .334 with a 1.055 OPS, whereas Thomas hit .330 with a 1.052 OPS through the age of 29. Plus, Thomas’ twenties came in a slightly lower-scoring era, which is why his adjusted OPS+ of 182 tops Pujols at 172. Pujols has three MVPs and one batting title while thrice leading the league in OPS. Before his 30th birthday Thomas had two MVPs and one batting title while leading the league in OPS four times. …
February 12, 2010
“Frank Thomas is the most underrated hitter ever”
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Great call – point blank, Thomas was the proto-pujols, check this: http://yallkiltit.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/the-proto-pujols-frank-thomas-retires/
Comment by yallkiltit — February 12, 2010 @ February 12, 2010 5:19 pm |