Caminero went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run, a walk and a second run scored in Thursday's 8-4 win over the Red Sox.
This was Caminero's first multi-hit effort since April 24 versus the Twins. He's cooled down a bit in recent weeks -- after that April 24 game, he was batting .270 on the year, but he's now at .259 with an .846 OPS for the season. The third baseman still offers plenty of power in the heart of the Rays' order, and he has 10 homers, 18 RBI, 23 runs scored, three doubles and no stolen bases through 37 games.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Swats ninth homer Friday
Rotowire
Caminero went 1-for-3 with a solo homer in Friday's 3-0 win over the Giants.
The third baseman took Robbie Ray deep for his ninth homer of the season in the fourth inning. Caminero snapped a five-game homerless drought with the long ball and is now slashing .258/.328/.508 with the nine homers, 16 RBI, 18 runs scored and a 13:23 BB:K across 134 trips to the plate. His flyball rate has ticked up to 40.8 percent this season while his bat speed (79.7 mph) is in the 100th percentile.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Back in lineup Wednesday
Rotowire
Caminero (jaw) will start at third base and bat second in Wednesday's game against the Guardians.
Caminero was forced to exit Tuesday's contest after a foul tip bounced off the dirt and struck him in the jaw. He escaped with merely a contusion and will not have to miss any starts. Caminero has started every game for the Rays this season.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Day-to-day with jaw contusion
Rotowire
Caminero has been diagnosed with a right jaw contusion and is considered day-to-day, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Caminero fouled a pitch off in his first at-bat Tuesday, and it bounced off the dirt and came up to hit him in the jaw. After grounding out, Caminero left the game with the training staff. The Rays have a day game Wednesday to wrap up their series with the Guardians followed by an off day Thursday.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Exits game in first inning
Rotowire
Caminero was removed from Tuesday's game against the Guardians in the first inning after fouling a ball off the right side of his face, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Caminero fouled off a pitch that hit the ground and then bounced up and hit him in the right side of the face. He stayed in to finish his at-bat and grounded out before then walking down the tunnel with the training staff. Ben Williamson has entered the game at second base, and Richie Palacios has shifted over to third base for Tampa Bay.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Stays hot with two homers
Rotowire
Caminero went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and a two-run home run during Friday's 6-2 win over the Twins.
Caminero extended his hitting streak to nine games in a big way, hitting two home runs as part of a three-RBI day. He didn't waste much time, hitting a massive 450-foot home run in the first inning and adding the two-run shot in the seventh to tack on a couple of insurance runs. Over the course of his hit streak, the 22-year-old is 11-for-36 (.306 batting average) with six home runs and 11 RBI.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Slugs 45th homer
Rotowire
Caminero went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in Friday's 4-2 loss to the Blue Jays.
The 22-year-old became the second player in franchise history to reach the 45-homer plateau, with the only other occurrence happening in 2007 when Carlos Pena cracked 46 long balls. Caminero launched a solo shot off Toronto starter Shane Bieber in the second to tie the game at 1-1. The Tampa Bay third baseman has been a steady source of power all season and is now slashing .262/.307/.536 with 110 RBI and 93 runs scored through 644 plate appearances.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Out with back issue
Rotowire
Caminero (back tightness) is not in Thursday's lineup against the Blue Jays.
He exited Wednesday's game with back tightness and is still ailing Thursday. Tristan Gray is starting at third base and batting sixth.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Battling back tightness
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Caminero was removed from Wednesday's game against Toronto due to mid-back tightness, Ryan Bass of FanDuel Sports Network Sun reports.
Caminero had gone 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts before his back forced him to make an early exit during the seventh inning. The Rays are already labeling him as day-to-day, which suggests the injury isn't too serious, though they may give Tristan Gray or Richie Palacios a start at third base Thursday to give Caminero extra time to recover.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Knocks 43rd long ball
Rotowire
Caminero went 2-for-5 with a solo home run and a double in Saturday's 5-4 victory versus the Cubs.
Caminero came up big in the eighth inning, blasting a 423-foot solo shot to center field to tie the score 4-4. The homer was his fourth through 12 contests in September and his 43rd overall this season. Among AL hitters, only Cal Raleigh (53) and Aaron Judge (47) have gone deep more than Caminero.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Cracks 42nd homer
Rotowire
Caminero went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run in Wednesday's 6-5 loss to the White Sox.
Caminero has begun September by logging at least one hit in eight of his first nine contests of the month. The 22-year-old slugger has positioned himself as one of Tampa Bay's franchise cornerstones with a breakout 2025 campaign, hitting .263 with 42 homers, 105 RBI, 87 runs scored and seven stolen bases across 548 at-bats. It's worth pointing out Caminero owns a potent .976 OPS at home versus a .710 OPS on the road this year, so he's significantly benefitted from having half of his outings at hitter-friendly George M. Steinbrenner Field.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Another long ball Friday
Rotowire
Caminero went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Friday's 7-1 loss to the Guardians.
Caminero launched a 421-foot solo shot off Gavin Williams in the sixth inning for his 41st homer of the year. The 22-year-old has been on a scorching hot pace since the start of August, blasting 14 home runs in that span, the most in MLB, while batting .298 (37-for-124) with 32 RBI and 25 runs scored. Caminero is up to a .263/.304/.541 slash line with 103 RBI, 85 runs scored and seven stolen bases through 573 plate appearances and is inching closer toward the Rays' single-season home run record of 46, set by Carlos Pena in 2007.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Drives in pair Monday
Rotowire
Caminero went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI in Monday's 10-2 win over the Mariners.
Caminero hit a decent .262 (27-for-103) with 12 home runs and 23 RBI over 26 games in August. While he didn't start September with a bang, he continues to be a steady source of run production. The third baseman is up to a .258/.300/.530 slash line with 39 homers, 96 RBI, 80 runs scored, 23 doubles and seven stolen bases over 131 contests. Barring a brutal slump or injury, he should have no trouble topping the 40-homer and 100-RBI marks.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Clubs grand slam
Rotowire
Caminero went 1-for-4 with a grand slam during Sunday's 7-2 win over the Cardinals.
Caminero broke Sunday's game open with his fifth-inning grand slam off Matt Svanson. It was the third baseman's second grand slam of his career. The long ball was his 10th of August, putting him in a three-way tie with Shea Langeliers and Vinnie Pasquantino for the most round-trippers in MLB this month. He's 21-for-78 (.269) with 20 RBI and 15 runs scored during that stretch.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Plates three runs in victory
Rotowire
Caminero went 2-for-5 with a home run, a double, two total runs and three total RBI in Wednesday's 8-2 win against the Athletics.
Caminero began his day with a first-inning, run-scoring double and added a two-run blast to left field in the ninth frame. The All-Star third baseman has been swinging a hot and powerful stick of late, notching multiple hits in five of his past seven games and clubbing six homers during that span while batting .414 (12-for-29). Caminero is third in the American League with 34 homers on the season after entering the campaign with just seven big-league homers across 50 career contests.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Goes deep again
Rotowire
Caminero went 2-for-4 with a three-run home run in Saturday's 7-4 loss to the Mariners.
The phenom crushed a three-run homer off Caleb Ferguson in the sixth inning to pull the Rays within striking distance, though they ultimately couldn't complete the comeback. Caminero has gone deep in three straight games, starting with a two-homer performance against the Angels on Wednesday.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Homers twice Wednesday
Rotowire
Caminero went 2-for-4 with two home runs and three total RBI in Wednesday's 5-4 win over the Angels.
Caminero opened the scoring in the first inning with a two-run, 447-foot blast off Tyler Anderson before adding a solo shot in the third, giving him 30 home runs this year. The 22-year-old Caminero had been struggling at the plate prior to Wednesday's contest, going 6-for-41 (.146) with a .470 OPS in his previous 11 games. Still, the third baseman is slashing .253/.293/.509 with 76 RBI, 64 runs scored and five stolen bases across 464 plate appearances this season.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Slugs pair of homers in rout
Rotowire
Caminero went 3-for-5 with a pair of two-run home runs in Friday's 11-1 win over Baltimore.
It was the seventh game of the season with at least three hits for Caminero, who also piled up at least four RBI for the fourth time this year. Since the beginning of June, the third baseman is slashing .245/.301/.523 with 12 homers, six doubles, 27 RBI and two stolen bases over 166 plate appearances. Friday was also Caminero's second career multi-homer effort, and he continues to showcase the slugging prowess that once made him one of baseball's top prospects.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Belts 22nd homer
Rotowire
Caminero went 2-for-5 with a solo home run and a second run scored in Wednesday's 7-3 win over the Tigers.
Just named to his first All-Star Game, Caminero wrapped up the scoring on the night by clobbering a Chase Lee sweeper to lead off the seventh inning. The 22-year-old third baseman is up to 22 homers on the season, including five in his last 16 games, but he's otherwise in a bit of a rut and is slashing .224/.239/.493 over that stretch with a 2:18 BB:K.
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Rays' Junior Caminero: Belts 18th homer
Rotowire
Caminero went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Saturday's 8-3 win over the Tigers.
The third baseman slugged his 18th long ball of the season in the fourth inning off Sawyer Gipson-Long, staking the Rays to a 7-1 lead. Caminero has been on a month-long heater, batting .314 (33-for-105) since May 23 with 10 doubles, 10 homers, 26 runs and 29 RBI in 27 games. His success has been boosted by a huge improvement in his plate discipline -- the 21-year-old has an 11:16 BB:K during that span, after he compiled an 8:38 BB:K through his first 45 contests this season.
