ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays recalled infielder Junior Caminero, the No. 2-rated prospect in Major League Baseball, from Triple-A Durham on Tuesday.
The hope is that Caminero, who is ranked the No. 2 prospect in Major League Baseball, will provide a jolt to a struggling offense and for a team fighting for a sixth straight playoff berth
“Don’t want to put added pressure on him,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We’re excited to have him up here. We’ve all had enough questions about him. For this year, I think with Cami, he’s probably learned a lot about himself. He’s dealt with some injuries that kept him off the field. He’s worked really hard to get back. It just felt like it was the time, the opportunity to let him go to third base, he’s going to play a lot. Certainly, if he wants to provide a spark for our offense, we’ll take it.”
Caminero hit .276 with 13 homers and 34 RBIs in 53 games for Durham. The 21-year-old has been sidelined twice this season with quadriceps injuries. But now he’s healthy and ready to prove this is his time.
“For me at that point I was in Triple-A, that was my big leagues,” Caminero said. “That was my team, I was there to be focused on that team. But now I’m here, I am focused on here…But now I’m here. I’m going to stay focused. I’m ready to get better. I’m ready to focus on what I’m doing now. Stay up here and hopefully continue to work on doing what I need to be doing.”
What Caminero does really well is hit the ball really hard. His average exit velocity is 93.3 miles per hour which ranked second in minor-league baseball this season.
“He hits the ball as some of the elite hitters do up here,” Cash said. “You’re going to look for that consistency to do it as much as possible. Here as of late, there’s been some home runs he’s scorched pretty good. There’s not a lot of guys in the game that can live at that 110-plus and he seems to do that.”
Caminero played in seven games with the Rays last year, hitting .235 with one homer and seven RBIs.
Curtis Mead was optioned to Durham. The infielder was batting .238 with one homer and seven RBIs.
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