Junior Caminero has already found a few loud stages in his young career. The Rays’ third baseman hit three homers for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, including a semifinal shot off Pirates ace Paul Skenes, and his two-run walk-off blast against Houston on Sept. 11 sent Tampa Bay back to October.
Now the 23-year-old Santo Domingo native gets the biggest assignment yet: leading the American League’s top club into an AL Division Series against the Yankees. Game 1 is set for Saturday at Tropicana Field, with first pitch at 6:30 p.m. ET on TBS, truTV, UniMas and HBO Max.
Quick facts
- Caminero finished the season with 42 home runs and 101 RBIs.
- He started all 162 games at third base for Tampa Bay.
- The Rays went 7-6 against New York during the 2026 regular season.
- Tampa Bay and the Yankees last met in the postseason in the 2020 ALDS, won by the Rays in five games.
- Caminero batted .227, going 15-for-66, across his final 18 regular-season games.
Caminero said the international spotlight and the Major League postseason carry different emotions, but the work between the lines remains familiar. Representing the Dominican Republic was meaningful, he said, but playing for the club he belongs to makes this opportunity especially personal.
“It is still the same game,” Caminero said. “But this matters a great deal because it is with my team. We want to win a World Series.”
His regular season put him firmly in the AL MVP conversation. After establishing himself among the game’s young power threats in 2025, Caminero delivered another 40-homer, 100-RBI year while improving his strike-zone judgment and becoming a more dependable defender at the hot corner.
Yordan Alvarez finished as the leading MVP candidate, with Caminero second in the final voting. The Rays, meanwhile, took the league’s best record into a postseason meeting with an AL East opponent that finished right behind them.
The series will be only the second October matchup between Tampa Bay and New York. Their first came at Petco Park during the pandemic-altered 2020 postseason, when the Rays knocked out the Yankees in five games.
For Caminero, the more revealing development may have come with his glove. His long-term defensive fit was once a major question around an otherwise imposing offensive package, and he admitted that early-season mistakes bothered him in both 2025 and 2026.
He credited continuing work with third-base coach Brady Williams and the club’s staff for building confidence at the position. Caminero said errors come with the territory, but the important part has been learning from them and earning the chance to stay on the field for all nine innings.
He rarely left it. Caminero’s 162 starts at third gave the Rays an everyday anchor, even when his bat cooled late in the schedule. The power still helped drive Tampa Bay’s push toward the postseason.
This is not Caminero’s first brush with playoff baseball. He reached the Rays as a 20-year-old rookie late in 2023 and appeared in the Wild Card Series against Texas, though this October carries a much different weight for a player now central to Tampa Bay’s lineup.
Manager Kevin Cash sees a player prepared for the moment. He called Caminero a special teammate and said his track record—from winter ball through every level of his rise—suggests he will bring energy, motivation and a willingness to meet the stage when the Yankees arrive.
