Albert Pujols is not known for his speed, but that did not stop the St. Louis Cardinals designated hitter from a rather audacious attempt to steal third base Thursday.
Pujols had singled and reached second on an error in the top of the second inning Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers. The 42-year-old, known as one of the league’s slowest players, appeared to think he could catch pitcher Brandon Woodruff napping, because he took off from second while Woodruff was still in his stretch. He got a solid jump, too.
That hardly mattered. Woodruff stepped off and threw to third, where Pujols was tagged out with hilarious ease.
They caught Albert Pujols, the fastest man alive STEALING 👀🏃👮🙅♂️ pic.twitter.com/18MeK5R0Xc
— Baseball Doesn't Exist (@BaseballDoesnt) April 14, 2022
Pujols is probably about halfway to third before Woodruff has even thrown over to the bag. The fact that he still didn’t make it is kind of hilarious.
There is precedent for Pujols stealing bags, as he’s had at least one in every season except the shortened 2020 campaign. Maybe he has some more unlikely contract clauses he’s trying to reach that we don’t know about.
