LA Angels shutdown Albert Pujols for the remainder of the season.
The LA Angels announced Friday that Albert Pujols will not play the last weekend series of the season against Houston due to a reoccurrence of his plantar fasciitis which affects the slugger’s plant foot.
The news that the LA Angels announced is not unexpected considering he has been out for the last two games of the Oakland A’s series earlier in the week and the Angels are not in the race for a playoff spot. Hopefully this condition will not hinder Pujols next season. He has missed multiple games last season due to the condition and now he will miss a total of five games this season due to the same ailment.
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This injury is one of the reason Albert has been relegated most of the season to only designated hitter duties in the hope that he would be able the play through the injury if he didn’t have to play the field. It has worked out well for the Angels as Pujols has played in 152 games this season including 28 games at first base.
What it has also allowed the Angels to do is to play C.J. Cron almost every day and the youngster has flourished setting career highs in home runs (16) , RBI’s (69) , and batting average (.280) despite missing five weeks with a broken hand. As for Pujols, he has also flourished hitting 31 home runs, driving in 119 runs, and hitting .268. Not bad for a 36-year old who has been said to be in decline the past couple of years.
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The Angels said they do not expect Pujols to need off-season surgery for the plantar fasciitis condition which is good news, but we will see how Pujols condition is as the off-season progresses. Mike Trout has filled in for Pujols at DH the past two games, but there has been no word as to who will take his place in the last three games of the season.
If the Angels were in the heat of a pennant race I’m sure we would see ol’ #5 in the line-up as he is a gamer and wants to be in the line-up to help his team as much as possible. According to Angels manager Mike Scioscia, Pujols has been battling the plantar fasciitis for some time now this season.
“It’s got to the point right now where we don’t want to put him at risk. He has played through the pain for some time now,” said Scioscia in interview with MLB.Com Tuesday afternoon. “You couldn’t have asked for more than he did this year for us. There’s no doubt that the talent is there, and it’s real. He has had an incredible season us.”
Next: Angels Notes as 2016 comes to a close
Here’s hoping for a healthy Albert Pujols when the 2017 season begins.