The Road to The Show™: Rays’ Caminero

Each week, MiLB.com profiles an elite prospect by chronicling the steps he's taken toward achieving his Major League dream. Here's a look at top Rays prospect Junior Caminero. For more stories about players on The Road to The Show, click here.

In recent years, the Rays have become notorious for “winning” trades. The acquisition and development of infielder Junior Caminero back up that track record.

Tampa Bay landed Caminero in a November 2021 deal that sent right-hander Tobias Myers to Cleveland, using an approach similar to how they netted their third-ranked prospect, Curtis Mead. At the time, Myers was close to Major League ready and on the 40-man roster bubble. Rather than risk losing him in the Rule 5 Draft, the Rays took the trade route and targeted a younger player like Caminero, who was an unranked teenager that had a strong pro debut in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League.

He’s since emerged as MLB Pipeline’s No. 14 overall prospect and on the fast track with Double-A Montgomery.

Caminero’s loudest tool is his 60-grade power, which he’s able to generate with his elite bat speed. He has a tendency to be a bit pull-happy, but his bat-to-ball skills allow him to make good line-drive contact and mostly stay out of strikeout trouble.

The 20-year-old was one of the best hitters in the Minors over the first two months of the season with High-A Bowling Green. Since his promotion to Double-A on May 30, he’s batting .287/.351/.433 with five homers, 27 RBIs and 28 runs scored. He even appeared in his first All-Star Futures Game at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

“I don't think I'm too far [from the Major Leagues], but I don't like to think I'm too close. I like to think I'm more so in the middle,” Caminero told MLB.com after his Grapefruit League debut in March. “But I think the mentality that I need to have is that I need to be up here next year, and I think that'll help me out.”

Caminero was part of the last true July 2 international signing class in 2019, which meant that he needed to wait quite a while for his first professional action. After the pandemic, when Minor League ball returned in 2021, the Santo Domingo native stayed in the Dominican Republic for 43 games with the DSL Indians Red.

In that first Minor League action, Caminero showed his gap-to-gap and over-the-fence power, clubbing nine homers and eight doubles while driving in 33 runs. He batted .295 with a .914 OPS and walked nearly as often as he struck out.

His DSL performance didn’t quite put his name on the national prospect radar, but he clearly caught the Rays’ attention. Following the trade, he made his stateside debut in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League and quickly proved ready for a greater challenge. In 36 games in the FCL, Caminero batted .326 with an .895 OPS, five homers, five doubles and 31 RBIs.

He earned a promotion to Single-A Charleston for the final 26 games of the regular season. During that span, he recorded nine extra-base hits, including six homers, and drove in 20 runs. Caminero also helped the RiverDogs secure their second consecutive Carolina League crown by collecting eight hits in 17 playoff at-bats.

After the season, Caminero traveled a long way to get in some extra work. He signed to play offseason ball with the Perth Heat in the Australian Baseball League, where he was nearly eight years younger than the average player.

A natural shortstop, Caminero bounced around and saw time at every position on the infield in his first two Minor League seasons. But his ABL stint was the first in which he exclusively played third base. And while he was getting better acclimated to the hot corner, he also continued to mash.

Caminero left the ABL with a .303 average and .981 OPS. He finished second in the league with 14 homers and 37 RBIs over 39 games.

He returned to the States for his first taste of the big leagues this spring. He took his first Grapefruit League at-bat in Tropicana Field, as the Rays’ Spring Training facilities had been damaged by Hurricane Ian.

Although he went hitless in four at-bats this spring, Caminero earned an aggressive assignment to Bowling Green to open the year. He was the South Atlantic League Player of the Month in April and batted .356/.409/.685 with 11 homers, nine doubles, three triples and 32 RBIs in 36 games before the promotion.

Listed at 6-foot-1 and 157 pounds, Caminero is still agile enough to play shortstop. But he certainly has room to fill out and get stronger, especially as he gravitates closer to a possible permanent home at third. Some added muscle should also allow him to get even more out of his impressive raw power.