Rays superstar Junior Caminero, still just 22, is well on his way to topping breakout 2025 season

If you made a short list of the best young hitters in Major League Baseball, it would be incomplete without the inclusion of Junior Caminero. The Tampa Bay Rays’ budding superstar burst onto the scene last season, and while some might have been unaware of just how talented the 22-year-old slugger is, they quickly found out.

“I mean, last year was a great season. Now everyone knows I can hit,” Caminero told Yahoo Sports last month with a smile. “I’ve heard from guys like Aaron Judge and other people who like my game. And when you hear from favorite players, superstars like that, I always say thank you. But you know, I’m trying to just stay in my spot and be another guy in the clubhouse.”

The Rays’ star third baseman might be selling himself a bit short. It’s not just that he can hit; it’s also the elite level at which he’s doing it, combined with how young he is. Caminero hit .264 with 45 homers and 110 RBI in 2025, leading to him being named an All-Star. His 45 home runs were the second-most ever by a player 21-years old or younger.

In his second full season in 2026, Caminero is delivering an encore, with a .278/.377/.502 slashline, 14 home runs and an .879 OPS entering play Friday. His stellar performance has helped guide the Rays (36-23 after a surprising sweep by the Tigers) to their perch atop the AL East.

“I never had a season like Junior had, so I had the best seat to get to watch it,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said with a laugh. “I think with Junior, it’s knowing that he’s a special player. He’s very talented and just continues to work. He’s continued to adjust, as the league is going to continue to adjust to him.”

The league’s pitchers adjusting is usually what happens with young players who break out. While there are sometimes exceptions to the rule, they call it a sophomore slump for a reason, but going into his second full season, Caminero knew what weaknesses he wanted to address.

Even during his phenomenal 2025, the area of his game that left room for improvement was his plate discipline. While Caminero struck out just 19% of the time last year, he liked to swing his way on base, as shown by his 6.3% walk rate and .311 on-base percentage.

So far this season, the 22-year-old has eliminated that weakness, more than doubling his walk rate to 13.8% this season. The year-over-year change is the fourth-highest in MLB, and Caminero has also dropped his strikeout rate by more than four percentage points.

“I worked a lot with Vladimir [Guerrero Jr.] and Teoscar Hernández going into this year,” he said. “Now I know the pitchers more and take more care in the zone. I really worked a lot on the discipline, you know. And when I see mistakes, I gotta hit them when I get my opportunities at the plate.

“It’s a little bit different, but it’s working.”

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Chicago Cubs’ start continues to be a head-scratcher 

The first two months of the 2026 campaign for the Chicago Cubs have been quite the roller coaster. For a six-week stretch, the Cubs looked unbeatable as they rattled off not one but two 10-game winning streaks. Then things changed, as they went on a 10-game losing streak and fell from being one of the National League’s best teams to being middle-of-the-pack.

Besides a slew of injuries in the rotation, the biggest issue for Chicago of late has been an inability to hit with runners in scoring position. The Cubs rank last in MLB with RISP this season after being sixth-best in baseball in 2025. And the offense as a whole has left a lot to be desired over the past month, with the likes of Nico Hoerner, Alex Bregman, Dansby Swanson and Moises Ballesteros all struggling.

Chicago, now 33-30 and fourth in the NL Central, has not won a series since sweeping the Cincinnati Reds on May 6.

“We’re not winning a lot of baseball games right now,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said this week. “And we’re not playing well enough to win a lot of baseball games. You have to earn it, and we’re not earning it.

“It’s not some string of massive bad luck — we’re not earning wins. Flat-out.”

Former No. 1 pick on a roll in Cleveland

It has not taken long for Cleveland Guardians second baseman Travis Bazzana to start putting on a show. So far this season, Bazzana, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, has been the spark Cleveland hoped he would be and has been the catalyst for a much-improved Guardians offense.

Since May 1, the 23-year-old is hitting .287 with three homers, 15 RBI and eight stolen bases. His 130 wRC+ ranks sixth among MLB second basemen in that span. This week, Bazzana drove in four runs (all on Tuesday) as the Guardians took two of three vs. the Yankees in the Bronx.