Junior Caminero has moved well past “promising young player” territory. The Rays third baseman is now squarely in the MVP mix, and the numbers are starting to look like the kind of season that can force voters to pay attention.
He turned 23 on Sunday and, according to DraftKings, sits third in AL MVP odds behind Yordan Alvarez (-160) and Nick Kurtz (+400), with Caminero at +600 and Bobby Witt Jr. at +700. That’s a pretty steep climb into the conversation for a player who entered last season as a future star and this season as a bright, young one. Now he’s carrying the best team in the American League.
The production is loud, but the growth is what really jumps off the page. Caminero’s walk rate has climbed from 6.3% to 12.9%, while his strikeout rate has dropped from 19.1% to 17.8%.
He’s also using the whole field more, with his pull percentage down, and he hasn’t given up any of the thunder that made him a must-watch bat in the first place. In fact, he’s hitting the ball harder this season, both in exit velocity and hard-hit percentage, and his bat speed sits in the 100th percentile.
Through 87 games, Caminero is slashing .288/.378/.561 with a 157 OPS+. After a 45-homer, 110-RBI season in 2025, he’s already at 26 home runs and 56 RBI this year.
And if you want a sense of how rare this kind of start is, consider this: through age 22, only one player in baseball history has had multiple 40-homer, 100-RBI seasons. That’s Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews.
The only others to do it even once are Caminero, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ronald Acuña Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez, Johnny Bench, Joe DiMaggio and Mel Ott.
The power binge has been ridiculous even by his standards. Since June 23, Caminero has launched 11 home runs in 11 games, including a stretch of six straight games with a homer. He’s also only five shy of the Rays’ pre-All-Star-break record, with Jose Canseco’s 31 in 1999 still standing as the mark to chase.
But this isn’t just a one-dimensional slugger mashing mistakes. Caminero is showing up all over the AL leaderboard.
He’s seventh in batting average, ninth in on-base percentage and third in slugging percentage. He ranks fifth in hits and second in home runs.
His defense has taken a step forward too, enough that only Witt, Kevin McGonigle and Alvarez are ahead of him in WAR.
The team around him has surged as well. Tampa Bay owns the best record in the AL by four games and is on pace for 97 wins, which would match the third-highest total in franchise history. The Rays won 100 games in 2021 and 99 in 2023, and a 97-win pace would put them right alongside the 2008 club.
That matters because the setting has changed. Last season, the Rays were operating out of the Yankees’ spring training facility while Tropicana Field was being repaired after bad hurricane damage.
Their schedule was uneven, with a brutal middle stretch of road games built around avoiding the summer heat. They were 48-39 through July 2, then 29-46 after that.
This year feels different. The Rays are back home, and the results show it.
They are 31-12 at home, best in baseball, and Caminero has been a huge reason why. At The Trop, he’s hitting .338/.435/.675 with 15 home runs in 43 games.
If this keeps up, he won’t just be part of the MVP discussion. He could become a real threat to win it.
That would be a first for the franchise, which has never had an MVP and remains the only team without a player finishing in the top three. The Rays also have never had a player finish in the top five; Evan Longoria got as high as sixth in both 2010 and 2013.
Caminero is already tracking toward the best position-player season in Rays history, and the age factor only sharpens the picture. The only players in MLB history to win an MVP at age 22 or younger are Vida Blue in 1971 at 21, Bryce Harper in 2015 at 22, Mike Trout in 2014 at 22, Cal Ripken Jr. in 1983 at 22, Johnny Bench in 1970 at 22 and Stan Musial in 1943 at 22.
Simply, keep an eye on this kid. He’s special.
In Other News...
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Yankees Fans Have Been Waiting For Ben Rice To Reach This Stage
The Home Run Derby is headed back to Citizens Bank Park on July 13, and the early field already has a familiar Rays connection in Junior Caminero, who is in as one of the eight confirmed participants. The event will also return to a swings-based format, giving hitters more chances to settle in and do damage, which should suit the kind of power display that has made Caminero such a draw in the first place.
One of the more interesting additions is Ben Rice, who is set to take part for the first time as the Yankees keep watching his profile rise in a very different kind of spotlight. Philadelphia could still get a pair of hometown-relevant names in Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper if everything lines up, while Pete Crow-Armstrong has already bowed out, leaving the rest of the field to take shape around a few unresolved decisions. [Read more 🡒]