Junior Caminero’s Power Could Help Tampa Bay Rays Get Back into Playoff Race
The Tampa Bay Rays called up 21-year-old third baseman Junior Caminero on Tuesday to face the Houston Astros, and he promptly displayed the skill set that makes him so coveted. Caminero, the No. 2 prospect in the 2024 class, showed off his prowess at the hot corner on a hit smoked down the line by Astros right fielder Mauricio Dubón in the second inning. He dove for the out on a ball that otherwise would’ve surely gone for extra bases and likely scored Jake Meyers from first.
At the plate, Caminero struck out in his first at-bat in the bottom of the inning. But he secured his first big-league hit of the season in his second at-bat with one of the hardest-hit balls of the year. His first hit back in The Show came at 116.3 mph, a top 50 exit velocity recorded during the MLB season.
Caminero reached first on a single off starter Yusei Kikuchi that traveled 116.3 mph off the bat. Per Baseball Savant, only 14 players this season have hit a ball harder. He dug the ball out from below the strike zone.
The hard-hit ball tracks with Caminero’s scouting report. Per Rays Metrics, his 57% hard-hit rate with the Triple-A Durham Bulls was the second-best in the International League at the time of his call-up on Tuesday.
This isn’t Caminero’s first stint with the Rays, either. Tampa Bay called him up for a brief stint last season in the midst of a playoff race. He went 8-for-34 (.235) in seven regular-season games with a home run and seven RBI. He then went hitless in two postseason at-bats in Tampa Bay’s wild-card loss to the Texas Rangers.
This season’s call-up came with 44 games remaining and the Rays 5.5 games back in the AL wild-card race. It’s a longshot for Tampa Bay to make the postseason, but Caminero’s call-up makes the race more interesting. In 2023, he slashed.324/.384/.591 with 31 home runs and 94 RBI, a big reason the Rays called him up when the stakes were their highest. Quadriceps injuries limited him to 53 games with the Bulls this season, but he has been productive when healthy, slashing.277/.331/.498 with 13 home runs and 34 RBI.
He also has some adjusting to MLB pitching to do. Caminero finished 1-for-4 at the plate with three strikeouts on Tuesday. He struck out on three pitches in each of his last two at-bats. But plate discipline wasn’t a problem; each of his swinging strikes was on a ball in the zone.
Houston won Tuesday’s game 3-2.
