A Tampa Bay scout actually quit because of Albert Pujols.
All of the concerns about Pujols before the draft hurt his stock and made him a risky pick. This shrunk the pool of interest for future 10-time All-Star.
Besides the St. Louis Cardinals and his home-town Kansas City Royals, another team that had their eye on Pujols in 1999 was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
The scout for the Devil Rays that was very persistent about Pujols to the front office was Fernando Arango.
Not many people know who Fernando Arango was, but he was the guy who predicted Albert Pujols.
Arango was a scout for the Yankees from 1992-1995. He then became a scout for the Devil Rays. While working for the organization, he was scouting players in the Midwest for the 1999 draft and came across Albert Pujols. He watched him live a few times and fell in love with his booming style of play.
The Rays worked Pujols out before the draft. However, they had him playing catcher in the pre-draft workout.
The Devil Rays decided to pass on Pujols, in the first round, and every other round after that until he was drafted by the Cardinals in the 13th round.
Arango was so displeased that they missed out on Pujols that he quit his job. He left the Tampa Bay organization and became an agent until he went back to scouting for the Milwaukee Brewers. After Pujols left the Cardinals for the Los Angeles Angels, St. Louis eventually signed Arango to be a part of their scouting department.
Pujols and Arango were fairly friendly until Arango, 71, passed away in 2019.
People know that Pujols was a steal for the Cardinals but not many knew that a man was so passionate for Albert Pujols that he quit his job.