Albert Pujols

Dominican-American professional baseball first baseman, Albert Pujols, is also known by his nickname as The Machine. Pujols was born in the Dominican Republic in 1980, but moved to the United States in 1996. He began playing baseball while he was attending college. During his season in college, Pujols was chosen by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 MLB draft. In 2001, he was chosen the rookie for the Cardinals, and was unanimously voted the NL Rookie of the Year. He consistently played for the Cardinals, helping the team reach two World Series championships in 2006 and in 2011. Pujols became a free agent after 2011 season, signing a 10 year contract with the Angels. He was recently designated for assignment by the Angels, and was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He reached the highest success when he showed a comination of contact itting ability, raw power and patience. Pujols is a six time Silver Slugger who was able to lead the NL in home runs twice. He also led the NL once each in batting average, doubles, average .299, walk rate 10.8 percent, and Isolated Power .249. Pujols also holds the MLB all-time record for most times grounded into a double play. Pujols is one out the four players in MLB history to have topped 2.000 RBIs with 14 seasons of 100 or more RBIs.