TAMPA -- When Junior Caminero reported to Spring Training, he had an ambitious objective in mind. He wanted to hit 30 home runs. For all the former top prospect’s talents, that mark had only been reached 18 times in the Rays’ first 27 seasons. To reach that goal at such a young age, in his first full season, would be special.
As it turns out, Caminero could have aimed higher. Quite a bit higher.
Caminero became only the second player in franchise history to hit 40 home runs in a single season on Tuesday night, and that wasn’t even his biggest hit of the game. The All-Star third baseman knocked a tiebreaking two-run double down the left-field line in the seventh inning, giving him 100 RBIs on the season and sending the Rays to a 6-5 win over the Mariners at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
“The hard work that I've been putting in is paying off right now. You guys have seen the results,” Caminero said through interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. “More good things are going to happen in my career. I know that, and I just thank God for the opportunity.”
Caminero’s accomplishments at such a young age -- he turned 22 on July 5 -- put him in rarefied air. But the way he reached those round numbers was even more meaningful considering both hits came in critical situations during the Rays’ fifth straight win.
His 40th homer was a game-tying shot off Mariners starter Bryan Woo in the sixth inning. His 99th and 100th RBIs gave the Rays a lead they wouldn’t relinquish as they got back to .500 (69-69) for the first time since July 29, pulling within 3 1/2 games of Seattle for the final American League Wild Card spot.
“We're talking about it because you don't see it very often: 40 and 100,” manager Kevin Cash said. “And to do it at 22 years old is just really, really impressive. Really happy for him, proud of him, the work that he puts in.”
Caminero appeared to appreciate the milestone homer, raising four fingers in the air and looking toward the home dugout as he trotted down the first-base line after crushing a Statcast-projected 105.2 mph, 390-foot blast to left-center field.
He has a special plan for the authenticated baseball, which was sitting in his locker after the game. He and his wife, Francesca, are expecting their first child, a baby girl they plan to name Valentina. The ball belongs to her.
“When she grows,” he said, “she'll be able to have it.”
Only five hitters have more home runs than Caminero this season: Cal Raleigh, Kyle Schwarber, Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Eugenio Suárez. And he’s only six long balls shy of matching the single-season franchise-record mark held by Carlos Peña, who went deep 46 times in 2007.
“Forty-six,” Caminero said, smiling. “Let’s see.”
In the seventh, Caminero’s two-run double off lefty Gabe Speier broke a 4-4 tie and continued his assault on Tampa Bay’s record books. He is only the seventh player in franchise history with a triple-digit RBI season and the first since Austin Meadows had 106 in 2021.
As remarkable as the numbers are, they’re even more impressive in the context of Caminero’s youth and inexperience.
He is the fourth-youngest player in Major League history with at least 40 home runs in a season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, behind Mel Ott (20 years and 218 days on the final day of the season) in 1929, Ronald Acuña Jr. (21 years and 285 days) in 2019 and Eddie Matthews (21 years and 349 days) in 1953. On the final day of the season, Caminero will be only 22 years and 85 days old.
“He's a special player,” starter Drew Rasmussen said. “It's unbelievable watching him day in and day out. I mean, it truly is a blessing to get to play with him.”
Between Caminero’s pivotal milestone hits, reliever Kevin Kelly recorded what seemed like it would be the biggest out of the game.
Recalled from Triple-A Durham on Monday, Kelly entered Tuesday’s game in the seventh with two outs, the bases loaded and AL MVP candidate Raleigh coming to the plate. The right-hander stoically worked his way out of the jam, striking out Raleigh on four pitches.
The Rays needed one more escape act, though. With closer Pete Fairbanks unavailable, right-hander Griffin Jax loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth and Tampa Bay leading by two runs. Lefty reliever Garrett Cleavinger inherited the impossible situation but permitted just one run on a sacrifice fly before getting Raleigh to pop up a two-out, two-strike pitch.
The ball hung in the air for 7.4 seconds, scraping the sky some 200 feet above the infield. Caminero called it “the highest fly” he’s ever fielded. It “seemed to be an eternity” as Caminero tracked the ball from the dirt to the grass, Cleavinger said, confidently calling off his teammates.
Of course, on this milestone night, it had to be his play.
“That ball's hit a mile up in the air, and nobody was catching it but him,” Cash said. “That's kind of the player that you want out there.”