Junior

Caminero

The 21-year-old third baseman is 4-for-9 (.444) with a run scored in the Rays’ first two games of the year, but Caminero is on the bench to begin Sunday’s game with a routine day off. Jose Caballero is playing third base and batting seventh against Colorado.

The homer off Max Fried today was actually Caminero’s first hit in two weeks. However, Caminero’s poor spring, even in combination with Curtis Mead’s scorching start, hasn’t led to any talk of a season-opening demotion. He’s batting .129/.156/.419 in 45 plate appearances, but we’d be quite a bit more concerned if he were striking out a bunch. His K rate is 20 percent currently.

We wouldn’t have any concerns here, except for the fact that Curtis Mead is having a spring for the ages and might be ready to step in as a solid regular at third base. Still, it’d be quite a surprise if the Rays bypassed Caminero. He’s in a slump at the moment, but he’s hardly been overmatched; with three homers in 33 at-bats, he’s slugging .485, and his strikeout rate is just 20 percent.

Caminero left Thursday’s spring training game with lower back tightness. The good news is it appears the Rays were just operating with an abundance of caution and the 21-year-old third baseman is back in the lineup Sunday against the Blue Jays. Caminero figures to be one of the ADP-risers if he can stay healthy for the rest of the spring training schedule.

While back injuries can often recur, we have no indication yet that this is anything to be concerned about. The Rays were likely just being cautious with their prized prospect, but it will be something to keep an eye on.

Picking up where he left off in the Dominican Winter League, Caminero is 4-for-14 with three homers and eight RBI. His draft stock is already quite a bit higher than it was at the end of last year and deservedly so. It’d be too aggressive to draft him in the fourth or fifth rounds of mixed leagues, but it might soon be difficult to get him much later than that.

Caminero picked up where he left off this offseason with a long blast in his spring debut. The 21-year-old third baseman took Atlanta starter Grant Holmes deep to left field in the third inning. Caminero’s stock figures to continue to rise this spring as with each swing it becomes more obvious that he has the potential to hit 30 home runs in the bigs.

Caminero’s tie-breaking ninth-inning moonshot traveled 454 feet and carried a stratospheric 114.2 mph exit velocity. The 21-year-old burgeoning star, who capped off a phenomenal Dominican Winter League campaign with the biggest round-tripper of his young career, followed the gargantuan dinger up with an equally impressive 55-second trot around the bases. He’s the ultimate X-factor for fantasy purposes next season as his 80-grade over-the-fence pop offers one of the highest four-category ceilings in the entire landscape, especially with Tampa Bay re-locating to extremely hitter-friendly George M. Steinbrenner Field. We’re confident projecting at least 25 big flies and he’s certainly talented enough to eclipse the 30-homer mark in his full-season debut. He’ll be a top 100 pick in all fantasy drafts once spring training rolls around.

Caminero’s home run was his sixth of the year. He hit a two-run shot off Kutter Crawford in the third inning. Caminero is hitting .255 with a .741 OPS and 18 RBI heading into the last game of the regular season.

Caminero’s home run was his fifth of the year. He hit a solo shot in the third inning off Keider Montero. Caminero certainly isn’t going to sneak up on anyone in drafts next year. The top prospect in the minors at the time of his call up, Caminero has only scratched the surface of his sky high fantasy ceiling so far.