Albert Pujols of the Leones del Escogido prepares to hit the ball during the Leones del Escogido Training Session at Estadio Quisqueya on October 29, 2021 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Pujols will manage the Leones del Escogido next season. (Photo by Victor Calvo/Getty Images)
Staff Reports
World Baseball Network
The LIDOM’s Leones del Escogido will be managed by Albert Pujols in the 2024-25 season according to a report from ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez.
The 2001 National League Rookie of the Year and three-time NL MVP briefly played for the Leones in the 2021-22 season, the winter before his final season in Major League Baseball.
The Leones del Escogido play in Pujols’ home town, Santo Domingo, and share Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal with the Tigres del Licey, who won the LIDOM title in the 2023-24 season and lost in the Caribbean Series championship game to Venezuela’s Tiburones de La Guaira.
With 17 championships, the Leones del Escogido have a long history that predates the founding of the LIDOM by three decades. The club’s first championship came in 1922, one year after its’ founding and 29 years before the LIDOM began play. In LIDOM, the Leones have won 16 titles, most recently in 2016, and four Caribbean Series championships, in 1988, 1990, 2010 and 2012.
Pujols played 22 years in Major League Baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Angels, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and, along with Hank Aaron, is one of two players to hit 700 homers, reach the 3,000-hit milestone and drive in 2,000 runs.
Since retiring, Pujols has worked as a broadcaster for MLB Network and worked for Major League Baseball in the Dominican Republic. Managing the Leones will be his first on-field role since his retirement as a player.