ST. PETERSBURG -- There are few players in baseball as electrifying or entertaining as Rays third baseman Junior Caminero.
He swings hard. He hits the ball hard. He hits the ball a lot. He plays hard. He plays a lot, having started at third base this season in each of Tampa Bay’s 162 games. Even his home run trots are must-see TV.
In his first full season in the Major Leagues last year, Caminero hit 45 home runs and drove in 110 runs. He followed that up with a 42-homer, 101-RBI campaign this year while also improving his plate discipline and getting better on defense as the season went on.
The 23-year-old native of Santo Domingo, the capital city in the Dominican Republic, was one of the most valuable players in the American League this year, and the two-time All-Star is now the face of the franchise for a Rays team that put together the AL’s best record (98-64) and will be the league’s No. 1 seed in the postseason.
Watch the ball come flying off his bat with triple-digit exit velocity, and you’ll see how special Caminero is as a hitter. Watch him celebrate a big moment, and you’ll see how special Caminero is as a teammate.
We caught up with Caminero in the home dugout at Tropicana Field in September, the day after his walk-off homer clinched the Rays’ spot in the postseason, to share more about his journey to the big leagues and what drives one of the best young hitters in baseball.
Note: This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
MLB.com: You have elite, special bat speed. Everybody says it and everybody sees it. Where does that come from, and when did you first feel it?
Caminero: I think it comes natural. God gave me that naturally. … But I’ve always hit the ball really hard. When I was 13 or 14 years old, we started working on my body, getting in a little bit [better] shape, gaining muscle, then I would go to the academies and they told me, “Hey, you’ve got to work a lot with your defense, with your body.” We started working a lot on my body and we started to add a lot more power.
MLB.com: Moving on to your professional career, you were traded to the Rays at 18 years old and very early (after one professional season in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League in 2021). What do you remember about that, and what did you think it meant for you?
Caminero: That happened really quick. In that moment, as a young player, I was surprised. “Why did Cleveland trade me? We played just one year in the Dominican, and they traded me?” I said, “Am I a bad guy? Why would they trade me?” But in that moment, I didn’t understand baseball. Like, hey, if you get traded, it’s good for you. It was an unbelievable trade. Thank God.
MLB.com: You were called up by the Rays from Double-A as a 20-year-old in September 2023, and you got a brief taste of the postseason. What was that like, and what did it mean for you to get back to the playoffs this year?
Caminero: Unbelievable. I remember in ’23, Tampa Bay called me up to come here for a little bit. Leaving that postseason with Texas, I mean, that postseason was really quick (The Rays were swept in two games in the AL Wild Card Series). Being a rookie that year, not having experience in the big leagues, I was nervous a little bit. It’s normal. But now, we’re coming back to the postseason. I feel ready for a moment like that, and I can’t wait for what’s coming. I try every year to come here and make the postseason. This year, we made it, so I’m feeling great. It feels different.
MLB.com: A lot of players are motivated to be good. A lot of players are motivated to be great. You seem like you are as motivated as anyone to be a star. Where does that drive come from, and why is that important to you?
Caminero: My personality is like that. Everybody who knows me says my personality is [like that]. I try to help my team every single day. I try to be happy. I smile a lot. This is my personality. That comes from my family -- my mom, my father is very happy, too -- I mean, this is me.
MLB.com: How did your parents shape your personality and your discipline? (Caminero’s father was a truck driver, and his mother worked in physical therapy while he was growing up.) How much of your work ethic comes from your parents?
Caminero: A lot. A lot. Credit to my parents. They gave me that education every single day at my house, especially my mom. If I did something bad, my mom told me, “Hey, it’s not like that. It’s like this.” That’s where that comes from.
MLB.com: You’ve accomplished a lot already in the big leagues at a young age. Do you have a favorite memory so far of something you’ve done?
Caminero: Clinch night, my guy. My favorite. My first walk-off.
(Caminero clinched the Rays’ first trip to the postseason since 2023 with a walk-off home run against the Astros on Sept. 11 at Tropicana Field. It was Caminero’s first walk-off plate appearance in the Majors, although he hit another walk-off homer against the A’s a few days later.)
MLB.com: Hard to believe that was your first one, wasn’t it?
Caminero: Oh, my gosh! That moment, that was unbelievable. My favorite moment was that night. I can’t believe it. My guy, we shouted that night. My voice was going out.
MLB.com: Everybody who knows you says that you’re made for the big moments. When the lights are brighter and the stage is bigger, you seem to get better. Why do you think that is?
Caminero: I think I get better because I come here every single day hungry, you know? I need practice. I need hitting. I want to practice every single day. I bring a lot of energy. The game up here is really hard mentally. You’ve got to be strong every single day mentally. If your mentality is strong every single day, good chance good things are going to happen in the game.
MLB.com: What would it mean for you to win a championship with the Rays?
Caminero: Oh, my God. It would be the best. Like I said [after we clinched], we’re not done yet. We’ve got to continue.
MLB.com: We’ve seen you a lot on the field. Everybody knows what you can do there. But how do you stay busy off the field? We know you spend a lot of time with your wife, Francesca, and daughter, Valentina (born last November), and people say you’ve gotten into DJing.
Caminero: Off the field, I try to go home and do a good job as Dad. I want to be Dad. I want to help my daughter and my wife. I try to be around with my family as close as I can. And, yes, DJ a little bit, too. I play video games with my cousin, with my close friends. This is my life. I like it, and I don’t want to change a thing. My life is very happy. It’s very special for me, especially with my daughter.