Posted by Brian Joseph on Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 2:46 pm

Here’s a shocker: Albert Pujols was BDD’s choice for Player of the Month in June! It was nice of the 2008 NL MVP to take a month off in May (he only hit .341/.477/.682 in May with eight homers) so the BDD writing team could honor someone else. Unfortunately for the rest of Major League Baseball (especially the pitchers), Prince Albert didn’t make the same decision in June.

Pujols posted a .320/.427/.856 batting line and slammed 14 homers in 29 games. Albert knocked in 35 and scored 19 times. He ended the month reaching safely in 12 straight games and added seven multi-hit games to his resume. On June 21st, Pujols went 4-for-5 with two home runs (one being a grand slam) and six RBI in a Cardinals 12-5 win over the Kansas City Royals.

The only other player receiving first-place votes in June was San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval. “Big Panda” hit .394/.459/.745 with eight homers and 20 RBI in 27 games. Sandoval reached base safely in 25 straight games and posted 11 multi-hit games.

Previous Player of the Month Winners

April: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
Pujols hit .337 and eight homers in April including two grand slams

May: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
Mauer returned from injury to hit .414 with 11 homers, 32 RBI and 27 runs scored