Tampa Bay Rays Junior Caminero strikes Houston Astros starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi during the … (+)
Although no one threw in the towel on 2024, most of the moves the Rays made in the weeks and days leading up to the deadline and during the deadline itself pointed to 2025. This included the trade of Isaac Paredes to the Cubs, which paved the way for top talent Junior Caminero to take over the hot corner position.
Caminero made his MLB season debut after being called up from Triple-A Durham on Tuesday. He started third and batted fifth against the Astros. His fourth-inning infield single came off the bat at 116.3 mph, the second-hardest ball hit by a Rays player in three years, behind Yandy Diaz’s 117.4 against the Yankees earlier this season. Caminero, who also struck out three times in four at-bats, made a few brilliant plays that prevented at least two runs in a 3-2 loss.
The 21-year-old made a brief appearance with the big club last season, debuting on September 23 after joining the Rays from Double-A Montgomery.
“I think it’s definitely helped me mature,” he said Tuesday afternoon through translator Manny Navarro. “Going from Double-A to the big leagues is a big difference. I think I’m ready (this time). It’s the same game and I’m going to approach it like it’s the same.”
Caminero played in seven games (8-for-34, 1 HR) with the Rays in 2023 after leading Tampa Bay’s minor league system in average (.327), on-base percentage (.426), slugging percentage (.617) and OPS (1.043). He went 0-for-2 in the Rays’ wild-card series loss to Texas.
The Dominican native is rated by MLB.com as the second-best prospect behind Baltimore’s Jackson Holliday, although a hamstring injury suffered in late May sidelined him for six weeks. He began August with a .259 batting average before going on a mini-run that saw him post a .350 batting average (14-for-40) with five multi-hit games (three home runs) in the nine games he played for Durham this month.
“It was obviously something I didn’t want to happen, but I just put it in God’s hands,” he said of the injury. “I just kept going day by day, hour by hour, and saw how it (responded), did my job and trusted that it would get better.”
The Rays felt the time was right to bring him in and give a boost to a team that has averaged the third-fewest runs (3.9) in MLB since the All-Star break and ranks 25th this season with a .233 batting average.th. Tampa Bay has a weak batting average of .218 with runners in scoring position, ranking 29thth.
“I don’t want to put any more pressure on him,” manager Kevin Cash said. “He probably learned a lot about himself this year with Camy. He’s been battling some injuries that have kept him off the field. He’s worked really hard to come back, so it just seemed like the time and opportunity to move him to third base. He’s going to play a lot and if he wants to add momentum to our offense, we’ll definitely take advantage of that.”
Caminero spent most of his four minor league seasons at third base – 188 of the 278 games he started – and played some games at shortstop. To show the versatility desired throughout the Rays’ system, he also played a little at first and second base.
“I’m ready to focus on what I’m doing now,” he said. “Stay up here and hopefully keep working to do what I need to do.”
In a corresponding move, the Rays sent Curtis Mead to Durham. The Australian entered the 2023 season as Tampa Bay’s No. 2 prospect (behind Taj Bradley) and No. 33 overall. He made his MLB debut on August 4 last year and has posted a .244 batting average with a .612 OPS and 12 RBIs in 62 games over the past two seasons.
After making the Opening Day roster this season, Mead, 23, was optioned in May before returning in July.
“Curtis is working his ass off,” Cash said. “We told him that and that it’s probably beneficial for him as a very young player to go out there and do drills every day.”
