There may not be a hitter in the history of baseball who had a more consistently impressive start to his career than Albert Pujols.
But in at least one measure, Pujols now has company in the form of New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso.
The Polar Bear went deep on Thursday night to give him 30 home runs this season, and that was the magic number to join this particular club.
Pujols reached the 30-homer mark in each of his first six MLB seasons. Alonso has now done so, too, when you take out the 60-game 2020 season shortened by COVID.
They are the only two players in MLB history to do that, according to MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.
Alonso broke out immediately as a rookie in 2019 with 53 home runs.
In the 60-game 2020, he hit 16, which would've paced for more than 40 in a full campaign.
Since 2021, he has gone 37, 40, 46, 34 and now 30 and counting.
It's an incredible feat, and very impressive to keep Pujols company.
The part left unsaid of this Pujols record, though, is that he didn't stop at six seasons.
He hit 30 or more home runs in his first 12 MLB seasons, 11 of which came with the St. Louis Cardinals and then on into his first season with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Not only was Pujols an incredible hitter, he also hardly missed any games.
Alonso will have a long way to go to make it a dozen of these types of seasons. It's also unclear where he might do it, as he's a free agent after this season.
But for now, the Mets will try to find a better gear and finish the season strong behind their slugging leader.
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