Caminero's dominant WBC debut -- and what it means for his Rays future

MIAMI -- Junior Caminero appears to be a worthy heir to the throne of major league power hitters, a legacy that Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber will pass on one day to the next generation. But there's more to Caminero than his extraordinary ability to slug a baseball that seems to appeal to his peers, something that pulls them in.

Perhaps it's the gravitational pull of his raw joy. Representing his country of Dominican Republic, he hit his first home run of the World Baseball Classic last Friday against Nicaragua, a line-drive blast to right-center field that he hit at 116.9 mph to break a 3-3 tie. Caminero screamed loudly as he rounded the bases, without pretense or a preplanned schtick, responding to his teammates' celebration of him by shouting happily. "It's beautiful," he said after. "When I was running the bases, I didn't hear the people screaming. I cried a couple of tears when I got to the dugout."

In the DR's next game, Caminero was hit by a pitch, and as he took slow first steps toward first base, the crowd hushed appropriately, collectively concerned. Then, he broke into a big grin, yelled and waved his arms, deflecting the empathy and hyping up the crowd.

Caminero is 22 years old, and with his balanced, smooth swing that allows him to drive the ball in all directions, the third baseman clubbed 45 homers for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2025. Now, after spending the winter training to strengthen his body, he is posting triple-digit exit velocities just about every time he makes contact. Caminero, who has two home runs and five RBIs in this year's World Baseball Classic, might well be the breakout star of the tournament, and the other Dominican players and consiglieres -- including Hall of Famers David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre, and DR manager Albert Pujols -- relish Caminero's time on center stage.

"The best thing about Junior Caminero is he's not afraid for this moment," Pujols told reporters last weekend. "He's not afraid of this spot. He's willing to open up and get better."

"When this kid figures it out and gets better..." Pujols said, a slight smile of amazement crossing his face. "Because there's a lot of little things, especially with his swing he can get better at, and at 22, you don't touch it, because he's doing what he's doing and putting up big numbers."

Another star on the Dominican Republic team has had Caminero top of mind since the tournament began -- and it's a player whom Caminero has looked up to for a long time.

There is a picture of Manny Machado, from his Baltimore days, in which he is wearing an Orioles T-shirt and posing next to a boy who bears the widest, happiest grin: a very young Caminero. He wore Machado's No. 13 while playing amateur baseball, and now wears it for the Rays. Caminero also has a chain around his neck that bears the No. 13.

"I knew he always loved that number," Machado said -- and so he plotted. When jerseys for the World Baseball Classic were handed out, Machado walked the No. 13 jersey over to Caminero, who was moved, his face instantly evolving into the same grin that he bore when his teenage self stood for that picture with Machado.

"I thought this would be pretty cool," said Machado, who is wearing his favorite number, 3, for the tournament.

It's not just his fellow players who are dialed into his success on the international stage -- but also his major league manager.

After Caminero's first home run in this World Baseball Classic, Tampa Bay's Kevin Cash texted his player to congratulate him. "That was really impressive, to put him in front of that group of players," Cash said over the phone a couple of days later. "I'm seeing a guy who is very intent on continuing in that superstar trajectory."

Caminero's 45 homers last year ranked second all time for a player in his age-21 season:

Eddie Mathews, 1953: 47
Caminero, 2025: 45
Mel Ott, 1929: 42
Ronald Acuna Jr., 2019: 41

Caminero also had by far the highest number of hits on swings of at least 80 mph during the 2025 season, according to ESPN researcher Paul Hembekides:

Caminero: 61
Giancarlo Stanton: 44
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: 40

With Caminero so young and productive, and blossoming into superstardom in this tournament, he might be a candidate for the sort of long-term deal that Roman Anthony signed last August with the Boston Red Sox -- or the one Jesus Luzardo just signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. Caminero would seem to be the kind of player any franchise would want to build around -- especially a team like the Rays, who are operating under new ownership.

But it's highly unlikely that Caminero will work out a long-term deal with them any time soon, for a range of reasons. Before Tampa Bay can clearly map out its future payroll, it must await the outcome in Wander Franco's legal situation. In the fall of 2021, the Rays signed the shortstop to an 11-year, $182 million contract, but he has not played since August 2023. Franco, who has been on MLB's restricted list since his arrest, was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor in the Dominican Republic last summer and given a suspended sentence of two years, but an appeals court has ruled he must have a retrial.

Additionally, the Rays' new ownership picked up the threads of the previous regime's effort to get a new ballpark and seek an expanded Tampa development that could mirror the Braves' Battery investment north of Atlanta. The Rays' hope is to open a new home for the 2029 season. But as former owner Stuart Sternberg could attest, there is a wide range of possible outcomes in this venture. Throw other factors into the mix, including the possibility of a baseball work stoppage in 2027 with the current collective bargaining agreement expiring in December, and the bottom-line clarity needed to make a big, expensive deal with Caminero probably isn't possible at the moment.

The best opportunity for the Rays to sign him to a long-term, team-friendly contract might have passed anyway. With his 45-homer breakout of 2025 and the promise we've already seen of more, Caminero is on a trajectory to follow Juan Soto's path through arbitration and free agency and eventually join Soto and Guerrero in the inner circle of MLB player compensation, where the first number of their contract starts with a 4, 5, 6 or 7. Caminero, who turns 23 in July, could be eligible for free agency at age 27, in the fall of 2030.

But those decisions are far off in the future. Until then, Machado and the other Dominican Republic players -- and the Rays -- will enjoy watching Caminero and all of his joy as his high ascent continues.