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Junior Caminero news
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Rays third baseman Junior Caminero hit his 39th home run Tuesday, taking the AL lead.
At 23, he already owns two of the seven 35-plus homer seasons in Rays.
Background
Caminero is in just his second full season with the Tampa Bay Rays, yet he already ranks 10th on the franchise's all-time home run list with 91. Last year, in his age 21-22 season, he hit 45 homers — one short of the franchise record of 46 set by Carlos Peña in 2007. This season he has moved into the American League home run lead, ahead of Houston's Yordan Alvarez.
How it unfolded
- Sep 5, 2026Caminero hit his 38th homer, a 425-foot shot to center, in a 6-3 win over the Texas Rangers, moving into the AL home run lead.
- Sep 8, 2026Caminero hit his 39th home run, a 455-foot first-inning blast off Braves starter A.J. Smith-Shawver, as the Rays beat Atlanta 7-1. He went 2 for 3 with a walk, hit by pitch and two runs scored.
- Sep 9, 2026The Athletic examined Caminero's place in Rays history, noting he and Carlos Peña have the franchise's only 40-homer seasons and that one more homer this year would give him two-thirds of all 40-homer seasons in team history.
- Sep 14, 2026Suncoast Credit Union is scheduled to host 'Every Hit is a Win with Junior Caminero,' a youth baseball fundraiser at the Shimberg Sports Complex in Tampa, with Caminero joining local Little Leaguers.
Who’s saying what
- Analysts
- The Athletic framed Caminero's production as historic for the franchise, noting he already ranks 10th on the Rays' all-time home run list and holds two of the team's seven 35-plus homer seasons.
- Fantasy
- FantasyPros highlighted his counting stats for fantasy managers, noting a .281 average and .897 OPS across 142 games alongside the AL home run lead.