ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Though no one was throwing in the towel on 2024, most of the moves the Rays pulled off in the weeks and days leading up to the trade deadline and at the deadline itself, pointed to 2025.
Room was made to accommodate the return of starting pitchers Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen as well as allowing Manuel Rodriguez and Edwin Uceta to slot into more prominent roles out of the bullpen.
Isaac Paredes was dealt to the Cubs with the idea top prospect Junior Caminero would take over at the hot corner sooner than later. That time has come.
Read: Exceptional Pitching Keeping Tampa Bay Rays’ Playoff Hopes Afloat
Caminero was summoned from Triple-A Durham on Tuesday with Curtis Mead sent down. The 21-year-old had a cameo with the big club last season, making his debut on September 23 and appearing in seven games (8-for-34, 1 HR) after leading Tampa Bay’s minor-league system in average (.327), on-base percentage (.426), slugging percentage (.617) and OPS (1.043). He went 0-for-2 in the Rays’ wild-card series loss to Texas.
Caminero entered this season as MLB’s No. 2 prospect behind Baltimore’s Jackson Holliday. It was a frustrating season at times for the native of the Dominican Republic. He sustained a quad injury in late May – he hit .233 that month — that sidelined him for six weeks. He entered August hitting .257 before going on a nice little run in which he hit .350 (14-for-40) with five multi-hit games in the nine games he played for Durham this month.
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