Albert Pujols: MV3

Joe Mauer won the 2009 American League Most Valuable Player Award, tallying 27 of the 28 1st place votes. He led the AL in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging. I said in an earlier post that if the Twins came back and won the AL Central, Joe Mauer would win MVP. Sure enough, the trophy went the the Minnesota catcher.

27 votes is great. But for the National League, there was literally no debate. Albert Pujols received every first place vote as he beat out Hanley Ramirez, Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder for the award. Pujols won his second consecutive MVP and third of his career, joining just nine other players to have three or more career MVP awards. Pujols was the clear-cut favorite who led the NL in slugging, home runs, on-base percentage and runs scored. He also finished in the Top 6 in eight different categories. Not bad for the 2001 National League Rookie of the Year. On top of that, he led the Cardinals to 91 wins, the most they've had since 2005, and their first division title since their 2006 World Series season.

The St. Louis slugger turns 29 in January. He had 366 home runs in his first nine seasons. He has made the All Star team seven years in a row (eight in total). He has hit over 30 home runs and 100 RBIs in all nine career seasons. And he is not even 30 yet. While Pujols is still in his prime, it is time to talk about his career in retrospect and what he could do in the second part of it. Pujols' numbers are unheard of, and I think we need to consider him one of the greatest hitters of all time. If he can keep up numbers similar to these for the rest of his career, then he could end up the best player to ever pick up a bat. One thing he needs to watch out for is staying healthy. He has played over 140 games in every season so far, but major injuries could really hurt him. Take Ken Griffey Jr. for example. Griffey could have been the best hitter and even the best player of all time, but then he started battling injuries. Pujols is definitely on his way to Cooperstown, but the key for him is to watch himself: if he can stay on the field without pain, then he will be much more than just a Hall of Famer.