This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
KANSAS CITY -- Junior Caminero spent nearly 10 minutes answering questions in front of his locker on Friday afternoon, touching on everything from his three-homer game last Thursday to Dominican Heritage Night at Tropicana Field to the Rays’ overall performance during the first half of the season.
He tackled most of those subjects in Spanish, with team interpreter Kevin Vera relaying his thoughts. But as the scrum began to break up, Caminero looked right at the camera recording his interview for Rays.TV, smiled and shared one last message in English.
“And fans,” Caminero said, “vote, please.”
Caminero is clearly a deserving candidate to be the American League’s starting third baseman at the All-Star Game in Philadelphia in two weeks. He’s got the statistics. He’s got star power. He’s got the support of his coaches and teammates, and he got enough love from the fans to be named one of two finalists for the spot.
It would be Caminero’s second straight start in the Midsummer Classic, putting him in rare company, especially for someone who’s still only 22 years old. Eight Rays have been elected starters by fans, and only five of them actually played in the All-Star Game. He only found himself in the lineup last year after Alex Bregman was injured and José Ramírez opted out, so it would mean even more to Caminero to know he was voted in by the fans.
“Still got a little bit of ways to go, so we'll see what happens with the next round of voting,” Camerino said through Vera.
Phase 2 of the voting opened on Monday and runs through Thursday at noon ET. Fans can vote once per day at MLB.com/vote, all 30 team sites, the MLB app or the MLB Ballpark app.
Caminero could have an uphill climb, despite everything working in his favor, because of who he’s up against. After leading in MLB’s first two balloting updates, Caminero finished Phase 1 with 2,103,882 votes, just behind his fellow finalist: Toronto rookie Kazuma Okamoto (2,125,888).
Blue Jays fans made their presence felt in the first phase of the voting. Despite their record, the defending AL champions have seven finalists for eight positions, and one spot in the AL’s starting lineup will be occupied by Jays second baseman Ernie Clement, the league’s leading vote-getter.
The only AL players who received more votes than Caminero in Phase 1 were Yordan Alvarez, Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr., Mike Trout … and three different Blue Jays: Clement, Okamoto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The good news for Caminero? Vote totals don’t carry over into this round, so it’s a true runoff. But he’ll need some help to keep pace with the Blue Jays’ dominance at the digital ballot box.
“It's no secret that the Toronto fanbase is double the size that we have here, but credit to them, right?” Caminero said through Vera. “They always support their guys, and they always are supporting their team every day.”
Caminero has the advantage statistically. It’s hard to imagine a more convincing argument than the week he just put together, which earned him AL Player of the Week honors on Monday. Over the last six games, he batted .500 with seven homers and 15 RBIs.
He’s combined the incredible power and run production he displayed during last year’s 45-homer campaign with increased patience and discipline at the plate, quickly emerging as an all-around, well-balanced hitter in only his second full season in the Majors.
“Just growth. We forget that he’s 22,” Rays hitting coach Chad Mottola said. “We forget the lack of experience that he had, even in the Minor Leagues. All these things, he’s learning in real time. … Cami’s doing all this in a pretty short span.”
Not that people factor this kind of thing into the All-Star voting process, but Caminero comes across as an excellent teammate.
An inning after hitting a moonshot into borderline-unreachable territory at Tropicana Field on Sunday afternoon, Caminero was the first one out of the dugout to celebrate Ben Williamson’s second home run of the season, raising his arms to the sky as if he had just gone deep again. Speaking after the game, he ran through a list of teammates he wants to see alongside him in Philadelphia in two weeks.
He’s also proven to be something that matters quite a bit for baseball’s summer showcase: good entertainment.
“La Maxima” has boundless energy, a quick smile and a flair for the moment. He’s shown that everywhere from the Dominican Winter League to the World Baseball Classic, and the Rays see it every day. He hasn’t committed to participating in another Home Run Derby just yet, but it was clear last year he’s made for that event.
“That’s my personality. That’s the way I play baseball,” Caminero said. “Every day I try to have that same type of energy, because it's just who I am, really, on and off the field. I recognize that right now with this team … I’ve got to keep my head up, and everybody will get behind me.”
Will All-Star voters do the same?