Stats Don’t Lie: Even Juan Soto doesn’t remotely compare to Albert Pujols

San Diego Padres outfielder Juan Soto is a tremendous young player, and projects to be a future Hall of Famer. But he is no Albert Pujols.

Pujols is an all-time great, and is closing in on 700 home runs for a reason. Despite a slow, painful regression once he signed with the Angels, his early-season statistics were incredible enough that he still remains arguably the best overall hitter of his era.

The numbers do not lie — Soto is one of the only players who remotely compares to him. As a reddit post suggests (shoutout u/demonios), the modern-day Ted Williams is no Pujols, at least not yet.

Through their first 582 games, Pujols outranks Soto in the following categories — hits, home runs, average, slugging, OPS, wOBA, extra-base hits, ISO, BABIP, wRC+ and fWAR. Frankly, it’s not all that close.

Juan Soto is no Albert Pujols, at least not yet

Pujols had such a ridiculous start to his career statistically, it’s tough to compare him to anyone, even Soto. From 2001-2010, Pujols made the All-Star team nine out of ten years, and won three NL MVPs, six silver sluggers and two World Series.

Soto has played just four-plus seasons, but to match Pujols’ statistically, would have better luck doing so in the latter stages of his career. Pujols slowed down significantly once he turned 30 and signed with the Angels.

Given how Soto takes care of his body, he could potentially make a run at Pujols in a few specific categories. Home runs remains unlikely, though.