Junior Caminero is 23 years old, hits baseballs into the next area code, and apparently isn't afraid to tell a catcher exactly what's coming next. Jeff Passan's new sit-down with the Rays third baseman is the kind of profile that reminds you a guy can be a budding superstar and still be a total mystery to most fans, since this was reportedly Caminero's first extended interview in English.
Full episode: Junior Caminero on the folly of max contracts, why he’s getting involved in the labor fight, what it’s like to be traded, playing baseball in Australia and so much more. This is his first long interview in English, too. Impressive all-around. https://t.co/Zj1wjcP9c0
The headline moment is a story that sounds made up until you watch it. According to the interview, Caminero was playing for Licey in the Dominican winter league and told the opposing catcher, his friend Francisco Mejia, not to call another fastball. Mejia called one anyway. Caminero hit it out and flipped his bat more than 40 feet in the air before he'd even cleared the batter's box. It's the kind of moment that gets clipped for years.
Passan laid out the called-shot sequence: the warning, the fastball anyway, and the 40-foot bat flip.
That home run wasn't some throwaway spring training flex, either. It came in a winner-take-all Game 7 of the LIDOM championship series with the score tied in the top of the 9th, which is about as high-stakes as a walk-off gets outside of the majors. Caminero later said he thought the ball was gone before he even finished admiring it, and the trot alone reportedly ran nearly a minute. That's the level of self-belief Passan is capturing here, a guy who calls his shot and then backs it up on the biggest stage available to him at the time.
The rest of the conversation is where things get more interesting for anyone who follows the sport's business side. Caminero is under Rays control through 2030, and MLB's proposed salary cap system is exactly the kind of mechanism that would cap out a player like him before he ever hits the open market. Passan got Caminero talking about why he's choosing to get involved in the labor fight now, at 23, instead of waiting until he's closer to free agency.
Caminero weighed in on how a salary cap would affect players like him and Latin American players specifically.
It's a notable stance for a player this early in his service time. The Rays reportedly haven't opened extension talks yet, even though Caminero has said he'd welcome one, and any deal would likely run well into nine figures given his trajectory. In the meantime, MLB and the union are staring down real friction over a cap system, and Caminero is positioning himself as a voice in that fight rather than just a guy waiting to cash in. Combine that with a guaranteed viral highlight and a growing comfort speaking to English-language media, and it's easy to see why Passan built an entire episode around him.