Albert Pujols has remarkably high praise for Rays’ Junior Caminero after LIDOM season

As if Rays fans needed another reason to be ecstatic about former top prospect Junior Caminero, he received some significant praise from Cardinals three-time MVP Albert Pujols. The future Hall of Famer is currently the manager of Caminero's Winter League team, Leones del Escogido. He has been able to witness first-hand the greatness that this kid can portray and he stated recently that he believes Caminero is the future of the MLB.

The electric third baseman has been on an absolute tear for Leones in the LIDOM Round Robin tournament. This club has aspirations of winning the LIDOM playoffs and moving on to the Carribean Series to play against some stout competition. Caminero is currently hitting .448 with 12 extra-base hits and 14 RBIs during a 15-game stretch.

The 21-year old has led his team to the championship series against Tigres del Licey. Licey are the reigning champions of the Dominican League, but Pujols and his hungry club are ambitious to take over the throne. Pujols stated to the media, "My dream is to win the championship." Coming from a two-time World Series champion, nobody should count this team out.

Heading into his first full season as a big-leaguer, Caminero will have high expectations. In fact, FanGraphs projects that the Dominican star will lead the Rays in home runs in 2025. After appearing in only 43 exhibitions due to a late call-up last season, Caminero hit 16 extra-base hits and drove in 18 runs.

Although the Winter League pitching is much less prominent, his production during the playoff games have certainly been eye-opening and could lead fans to question where exactly his ceiling is. If you ask us at RaysColoredGlasses, the sky is the limit for the 6'1 phenom.

The Rays franchise-esque player actually has more in common with legendry hitter Albert Pujols, other than immense baseball talent. They share names as Pujols goes by his middle name, "Alberto". We're not sure if Junior "Alberto" Caminero was named after the former St. Louis Cardinal's outfielder, but we can confirm that Pujols was in the middle of his second All-Star season when Caminero came into the world in 2003.

Therefore, as the youngster plays under Pujols' command, can he live up to the hype of this incredible Dominican athlete? Is there a chance that he ends up being better than Albert Pujols?