Tim Raines Talks About Albert Pujols And Getting Out Of Slumps
MLB legend, Tim Raines took the time to speak with me about Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols and his recent slump.
In this portion of an interview done on Monday, May 14, 2012, Raines explains what he believes is going on with Pujols and tells us what he did to get out of slumps during his playing days.
Pujols recently hit his first regular-season home run since joining the Angels, which ended the longest drought of his 12-year career after 33 games and 139 at-bats.
As we all know, Pujols signed a whopping 10 year, $240 million contract with the Angels this past offseason and has yet to live up to the expectations that came along with that. As of right now he is batting a paltry .213 with two home runs. That will obviously need to change, and fast.
Raines touched on the money and the pressures that come with it.
“Obviously, he got a lot of money, so there’s going to be a lot of pressure from people outside of the game. As a player you try to not let that bother you but, it’s hard not to because he’s probably the best player that I’ve seen in a long time.”
He said the Pujols is just, “trying to do a little to much. Every at bat he thinks that just one hit s going to get him up to .300, but it’s going to take a lot of hits.
Raines had an idea of what Pujols really needs to say to himself.
“Right now mentally he is going to have to say, ‘Ok, I got off to a bad start, so let me just kind of work my back instead of trying to be back tomorrow.”
Later Raines gave some advice on what he did when it came to his own career when he was in slumps.
However, we both ultimately agree that Pujols will be fine. He will get back to what we are all accustomed to seeing from the three time NL MVP. He will once again become, ‘The Machine’, the one and only, Albert Pujols.
