Albert Pujols goes deep in LA Angels 3-1 loss to the Dodgers

Albert Pujols‘ rehab is going just fine and to prove it Pujols hit his first home run of the Spring against the Dodgers Kenta Maeda.  The blast gave the Angels an early 1-0 lead unfortunately they couldn’t hold it and lost 3-1 to the Dodgers.

For Albert Pujols it shows that he is making progress in his rehab from off-season foot surgery.  So far in three games Pujols is two for seven with two walks with a double and a homer.  Pujols is batting .286 with a .444 on-base percentage.

The question is whether or not Pujols will be ready when the season starts on April 3rd.  So far so good for “The Machine”, but what will be the real test is when Pujols can play in back-to-back games, which he has not done so far this Spring.

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Pujols, who just turned 37 in January is coming off a great season hitting 31 homers and driving in 119 runs. Pujols is chasing a few milestones as he is nine homers away from 600 and 175 hits away from 3,000. however, want he wants more is a return trip to the playoffs. The Angels have only reached the playoffs since signing Pujols in 2012 and that was a very short trip losing to the Royals in three games in 2014.

With the Angels line-up looking better than it has since Pujols has been in Anaheim the post-season is a reality.  However, much of those hopes will depend on the pitching staff which features  a mixture of youth and veterans and some of which are returning from injuries in 2016.

The biggest key to the Angels success will be the health of Garrett Richards and Tyler Skaggs who are both attempting to make full recoveries from UCL tears in their elbows.  Matt Shoemaker is also trying to bounce back from a fractured skull suffered last season.

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So far all three of these pitchers have struggled with Richards having a 6.23 ERA and Shoemaker with a 9.00 ERA. Skaggs has only pitched once for 0.2 innings as he is battling shoulder soreness. Skaggs is on track to pitch possibly this Wednesday. If these three can return to form and Pujols has a good season as well it will go a long way to helping the Angels contend for a playoff spot.

Next: Pujols starts rehab

So with just over two weeks left in Spring Training the Angels still have a lot of question marks but hopefully Albert Pujols will not be one of them.