Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero Posts Record Numbers Before All-Star Break
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With 10 days to go until his 22nd birthday, Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero is establishing himself among elite company.
Caminero has 19 home runs and 50 RBIs through 73 games, making him the 10th player 21 or younger to achieve the feat before the All-Star break.
Caminero joins Mel Ott, Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Cody Bellinger, Ozzie Albies, Eddie Mathews, Al Kaline, José Canseco and Ronald Acuña Jr.
Junior Caminero, who is 11 days shy of his 22nd birthday, has 19 homers and 50 RBIs through 73 games.
— Ryan Bass (@Ry_Bass) June 24, 2025
He’s the 10th player aged 21 or younger to put up those numbers before the All-Star break. The others?
Mel Ott, Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Cody Bellinger, Ozzie Albies,…
Caminero has also hit home runs in back-to-back games for the fourth time this season. His 19 homers are the sixth-most by any player in league history 21 or younger before July and the most since Acuña Jr. in 2019. In Rays history, only José Canseco, Carlos Peña, Logan Morrison and Greg Vaughn have more home runs before July.
Caminero is sixth among American League third basemen in All-Star voting. Beyond his 19 home runs and 50 RBIs, Camineor also leads all AL third basemen with 35 extra-base hits and 46 runs scored.
In his last 27 games, Caminero is ranking at the top of the league in offensive output. He paces the majors with 20 extra-base hits and ranks second in RBIs during that period with 30.
Caminero is also in a second-place tie with Arizona third baseman Eugenio Suàrez in home runs during that stretch with 11, trailing Seattle's Cal Raleigh, who is positioning himself as an MVP candidate.
A native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Caminero made his professional debut in 2021 with the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League Indians. Cleveland later traded Caminero to Tampa Bay, where he made his major league debut on Sept. 23, 2023.
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Don Strouble is a sports journalist who covers Tampa Bay Rays baseball and other sports for the ‘’On SI’’ network. He is a Northeast Ohio native and currently lives in Orlando, Fla.
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