Quote:
Originally Posted by mannybb24
Pujols in college was stocky, almost fat, that is why he lasted till the 13th round. Scouts thought he had a bad body but knew he could hit.
All of a sudden, he shot through the Cardinals system in a year and then he's winning the ROY. Hmmmm.
I'm not saying he did or is doing stuff but when I saw him play in Appleton when he was in A ball with the Peoria Chiefs, just out of Community College and he was big and lean all of a sudden.
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This isnt entirely accurate either. Pujols was drafted late not only because he was stocky, but also because he was considered slow, there were questions regarding his true age and some questions regarding whether he could transition from aluminum to wood bats. One thing that has been constant all along, however, has been that he has hit with power. He was also a top 100 prospect out of high school. See the following links for more detail:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/column...rry&id=2894316
"But some scouts considered him too chunky and "heavy legged,'' and there were rumblings that he might be older than advertised. He played at Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City, and St. Louis scouting director John Mozeliak, at the urging of scouts Mike Roberts and Dave Karaff, saw him at a college tournament in Wichita and thought he was worth a shot. The Cards signed Pujols for a reported $60,000 and sent him to the instructional league in Jupiter, Fla. In his first at-bat, Pujols hit a ground ball up the middle. The next time up, he launched a shot off the roof of a building beyond the left field fence."
.......
and:
http://www.boston.com/sports/basebal...that_got_away/
"``First of all," Jacobs said, ``his body wasn't great back then. Plus, people weren't sure how old the guy was. You assumed what he told you was true, but he wasn't a great body, and his swing was a little long.
``But he had big-time power, and you can't walk away from that kind of power. You do your homework, you study his aptitude, you figure you can fine-tune his swing and get his body better. His hands were very good for his size, and he had a good arm, playing shortstop.""