Junior Caminero’s breakout season has now put him in rare company in Tampa Bay Rays history.
The 23-year-old, who turned 23 in July and has only finished two full seasons at the Major League level, is the franchise’s lone finalist for the Most Valuable Player award. He was selected alongside Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros and Bobby Witt Jr over the Kansas City Royals, and that finish guarantees Caminero a spot in the top three.
No Rays player has ever gotten this far in MVP voting. Evan Longoria held the previous high-water mark for the club, finishing sixth in both 2010 and 2013.
Caminero’s numbers explain why he got here. He became just the fourth player in team history to appear in all 162 regular season games, and he finished with a .276/.360/.524 line, 42 home runs and 702 plate appearances.
His 142 wRC+ and team-leading 5.3 fWAR both stood out, with that WAR total tying Miguel Vargas for fifth among American League position players. His 42 homers matched Alvarez for second in the majors, one behind Pete Alonso, and he added 5 defensive runs saved at third base, which ranked seventh at the position.
The season had a few signature bursts that made the campaign feel bigger than the stat line. In June, Caminero blasted three homers in one game and was in the middle of a ridiculous 11-homer stretch over 11 games, a run that had him leaving the yard once every 4.5 plate appearances. Then in late September, he delivered the swing that sent the Rays to the postseason for the first time since 2023, crushing a walk-off homer against the Astros.
Even with just 23 years on the clock, Caminero has already logged four big league seasons. He is the only player in franchise history with two 40-homer seasons, and his 131 career wRC+ ranks third in Rays history among hitters with at least 700 plate appearances. His 94 career home runs are already 10th in team history, and that total could climb fast if he gets a full 2027 season.
The accolades keep piling up, too. Caminero was an American League All-Star, took part in the Home Run Derby for a second straight year, and is likely headed for his first Silver Slugger award as the league’s top offensive third baseman.
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The harder part is figuring out how long that arrangement can last. Walls struggled offensively during the season and into the postseason, and the Rays also have younger shortstop options on the way in Carson Williams and Grady Emerson. Both are part of the picture, but neither has yet forced the issue as an everyday answer, which leaves Tampa Bay with a familiar kind of in-between moment: a proven defender holding the job for now, and a future that is still taking shape behind him. [Read more 🡒]
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The appeal goes beyond the raw arm talent, too. Lodolos pitch mix and mechanics give scouts and analysts something to work with, and the article points to a few areas where small adjustments could help him become more effective. Tampa Bay has built a reputation for finding value in those kinds of margins, which is why this feels like the sort of arm the Rays could circle if the market opens up and the asking price stays manageable. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Suddenly Sit At The Center Of A Much Bigger 2026 Bet
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Junior Caminero is part of the buzz at the center of the American League race, while Kevin Cash is also in the mix as the kind of steady hand voters tend to reward when a team outperforms expectations. The broader takeaway is hard to miss: even in a year centered on leaguewide predictions, the Rays are being treated like a club that could shape the awards picture in a major way, and that makes their 2026 outlook worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]