WATCH: Rays Slugger Junior Caminero Makes Most of Bobblehead Night With Home Run
In this story:
TAMPA, Fla. — There is no bobblehead jinx when it comes to Tampa Bay third baseman Junior Caminero. He's too hot at the plate to be slowed down by any alternate forces right now.
On a night where his very first MLB bobblehead doll was given away to fans at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Caminero joined the party, too. In his first at-bat in the second inning, he hit a towering home run off the black batter's eye wall in center field. The ball traveled 417 feet before crashing into the wall.
It was his team-leading 15th home run of the season, and his sixth home run in the past eight games, dating back to last Wednesday.
Here's the highlight.
Junior Caminero off the batter's eye! pic.twitter.com/l8Pd1yFIyw
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 5, 2025
Caminero, who's just 21 years old, was named American League Player of the Week last week along with Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh. It was the first such award for the slugger, but there certainly seems to be more in his future.
Watching Caminero open up the box for the first time was priceless, as was sharing it with good friend Christopher Morel.
The Rays are looking for a sweep of the Texas Rangers on Thursday night. They won 5-1 on Tuesday night and 5-4 on Wednesday.
The Rays have a three-game series at home this weekend against their in-state rivals, the Miami Marlins. They play Friday afternoon at 1:10 p.m. ET, Saturday at 4:10 p.m. ET and Sunday at 12:10 p.m. ET. Friday's game was moved up from the evening becauser of a concert next door at Raymond James Stadium.
This story will be updated at the conclusion of the game.
Tom Brew is the publisher of ''Tampa Bay Rays on SI'' and has been with the Sports Illustrated platform since 2019. He has worked at some of America's finest newspapers, including the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He owns eight sites on the "On SI'' network and has written four books.
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