Albert Pujols is going from being considered dead weight to quite literally losing the dead weight this offseason.
Speaking with reporters at camp on Friday, the Los Angeles Angels slugger revealed that he has lost 12-15 pounds since last season and is looking forward to playing more first base in 2018, per Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times.
Albert Pujols in #Angels camp today. Said he’s lost 12-15 pounds since last season. Wouldn’t give exact weight but he looks really good. Lean, strong, looks forward to playing more 1B this season.
— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) February 16, 2018
Pujols, who was officially listed at 240 pounds last season, hit 23 homers and 101 RBIs over the course of the year but did so on a career-low .241/.286/.386 slash line. He has also been plagued by foot injuries in recent years and had surgery in December 2016. As a result, his mobility on the field and in the basepaths has been severely limited for much of this latter part of his career.
But as Pujols enters his age-38 campaign, more reps at first (where he won two Gold Gloves many years back) may actually be a necessity for him since new arrival Shohei Ohtani is expected to command most of the at-bats at DH.
At the end of the day, Pujols will be a whopping $28 million this year. Thus, any extra versatility he can provide for the Angels will be greatly appreciated considering how relatively awful he was as a pure designated hitter in 2017.
