ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The bat flip that won a Dominican championship in January 2025 went viral. Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols has called him the future of the sport. He hit 45 home runs in his age-21 season and came up just one shy of a franchise record.
All that did not go to Junior Caminero’s head. Instead it taught him to keep things smaller.
“I feel more humble,” the Tampa Bay Rays’ slugger said before Tuesday night’s game against the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field. “The more I play, the more I learn, the more I feel humble.”
That must be getting hard as Caminero is emerging as the face of an organization that has hunted for a face for decades. He has earned his second All-Star nod and is heading into the Home Run Derby Monday night for the second straight year (he finished second in 2025).
The native of the Dominican Republic hit 78 home runs before he turned 23 on July 5, and last year’s 45 homers were the second most any hitter has ever hit in an age-21 season, behind only Eddie Mathews’ 47 in 1953. He’s one of five players in history to finish a 45-homer season before turning 23, joining Mathews, Johnny Bench, Joe DiMaggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Three are in the Hall of Fame. The other is still playing.
Because the Rays do not play on national television often, fans may not recognize his face, but pitchers fear his bat. They stopped giving him anything to hit, so he stopped chasing.
That should terrify the AL East, because he’s still learning.
“This year, I stay more passive at the plate,” Caminero said. “I stay back, let them come to me. Last year, I didn’t do that much.”
His walk rate has roughly doubled (12.9%). He is hitting the ball harder than he did a year ago with an average exit velocity of 93.4 miles per hour and swinging through less.
Tomas Francisco, the Rays’ field coordinator who will throw to Caminero in Monday night’s Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park, marvels at Caminero’s natural ability.
“The hands are so quick that just produces that power,” Francisco said. “He is so strong, even for his age.”
Caminero just turned 23 and is second in the American League with 27 home runs, the only Ray other teams game-plan around, the only one a pitcher walks rather than challenges. Caminero beats you with a bomb. He may not be the first Ray to hit for power, but he is the first one young enough and dangerous enough to do it every year.
He is also doing it at a time when the Rays need a face. A hurricane tore the roof off Tropicana Field in 2024 and sent the Rays to a minor league park for a year. They came home this spring with new owners. The lease runs out at Tropicana Field in 2028 and their next home is still a dream sketched on paper. They were no higher than 28th in attendance from 2011 to 2022.
In 2026, they still have the best record in the American League.
“This team right now is complete,” Caminero said. “We play really, really hard. We are all in here to win a World Series.”
That is what Caminero wants you to remember about the Rays, not his home run total.
Signed out of the Dominican Republic at 16 for $87,500, Caminero is a large reason why they are here. He was a projectable kid listed at 155 pounds, and said he only filled out during the pandemic. The Rays acquired him in November 2021 as an unranked prospect, a throw-in for Tobias Myers, a pitcher who never threw an inning for Cleveland. Typical Rays trade.
Tampa Bay makes stars, that’s not new. The Rays just do not keep them.
Carl Crawford, David Price, Evan Longoria, Randy Arozarena, all of them came into this building, built a name, broke out as a star and then finished the story somewhere else.
Caminero is one that the Rays made who they may not be able to afford to lose — even while he keeps making himself more expensive with each home run.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Junior Caminero is emerging face of historically faceless (but dangerous) Rays franchise
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