Rays’ Junior Caminero not planning on long stay in the minors
PORT CHARLOTTE — Junior Caminero got a sip of the big leagues last fall and the Rays infield prospect wants more.
The 20-year-old was not shy in his first spring training with the major-league team about saying that he plans on making it hard for the front office to keep him in the minors.
“I am going to go wherever the team puts me, whether it’s on the opening day roster or whether it’s Triple A. I am going to control what I can control,” Caminero said via interpreter Manny Navarro. “... But I’m just going to play hard and wherever the team puts me it’s on them.”
“But If I go to Triple A, I am not going to spend a lot of time there,” added Caminero with a big smile.
Caminero, who hit .324 with 31 home runs in 117 minor-league games last season, went 8-for-34 with a home run in seven games with the Rays last September. He impressed manager Kevin Cash.
“He likes to play. He’s pretty impressive. I mean, tools-wise, he’s got a big arm from third base,” Cash said before Monday’s first full-squad workout at the Charlotte Sports Park. “The power is pretty incredible to watch during batting practice. I’ve never seen a guy get a standing ovation in BP and when he did it in Toronto, that last series, that was pretty remarkable.
“He’s always smiling. He’s always competing, a very young player that we’re excited to just see how the spring unfolds.”
Caminero took his first official batting practice Monday morning in a group with Randy Arozarena.
“Obviously he has great talent. It could be a generational talent once he develops as a baseball player,” Arozarena said. “And in my mind, I see him as really, really young. He has a lot of growing to do, but we are here to help him and guide him. And hopefully, he develops the way the organization hopes that he’s going to develop and hopefully the future brings a lot of good things for him.”
Caminero came into camp with big expectations, but also with the reality that he skipped over Triple A last season. He knows the Rays are likely to have him begin the season in the minors.
But he took away a valuable lesson from those seven big-league games that he thinks will help him get back there quickly.
“I learned how to fail,” he said of the experience. “In this game, you mature with that failure.”
Catching up
Cash, a former big-league catcher, went to the backfield to watch his catchers work Monday and came away impressed with the depth the Rays have.
“We’ve got some catchers that can really throw the baseball. It was fun to watch,” he said. “Obviously we know Rene (Pinto), (Alex Jackson), and Kenny Piper has some kind of arm strength. So good to see where that’s going with our catching this spring. I think I’ve already said it, but this might be the deepest that we’ve had. Maybe not ready to contribute at the big-league level right now, but deepest we’ve had as far as talent in quite some time.”
Pinto is the only catcher on the big-league roster. Jackson is the frontrunner for the backup spot.
All but two here
Jose Siri missed the first full-team workout Monday because of a visa issue that held up his travel from the Dominican Republic to the United States. He is expected to be in Port Charlotte for Tuesday’s workout. Brandon Lowe also missed Monday because of an illness.
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