Caminero's 'special pop' on display in two-homer game

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- After a dominant run through the postseason in the Dominican winter league, capped by a championship-clinching homer for his hometown Escogido team, Junior Caminero arrived for Spring Training about as locked in as any hitter in baseball.

And it shows.

Caminero blasted two more impressive home runs in the Rays’ 5-5 tie against the Twins on Sunday afternoon at Hammond Stadium, ripping one two-run shot to center field in the first inning and another to right field in the third.

“Special pop. We’ve seen it,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “He's been on quite the run from the winter ball to now, even in live BPs and all those things, and we're seeing it in the game. But he's got a chance to really impact our lineup.”

Both homers came on high fastballs from Twins starter Chris Paddack, who called it a “humbling experience.” For Caminero, it was just another day at the yard.

“It feels good,” the 21-year-old Caminero said through interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. “I have a goal in mind, and with the preparation that I'm having during Spring Training, I'm going to get to that goal.”

When Caminero reported for Spring Training, he mentioned wanting to hit at least 30 home runs this season. There’s no doubt he has the power to reach that number, and Sunday was yet another reminder of his rare ability.

“He just hits the [crap] out of the ball. I don't know what else to say,” Rays starter Shane Baz said. “It's just like every swing has intent behind it. He's not trying to flip a single anywhere. It's that he's trying to drive the ball, and he's very good at it.”

After getting ahead in the count in his first at-bat, 3-0, Caminero fouled a ball off his foot then lost his grip and accidentally flung his bat while whiffing on a fastball above the strike zone. The next heater came in lower, not quite at the top of the zone, and the Rays’ rising star clobbered it.

Baz said he wasn’t watching the plate appearance play out, but he heard the blast before he saw it and quickly snapped to attention.

“It sounded different,” Baz said. “You look up as soon as a bat makes that sound.”

The ball flew off Caminero’s bat at 109.3 mph, according to Statcast, and bounced on the boardwalk above and beyond the center-field fence, just to the left of the batter’s eye.

But he wasn’t done slugging after that.

In the third inning, Paddack tried to get a 2-2 fastball by Caminero at the top of the zone and toward the outer half of the plate. Caminero lashed it to right field at 101.5 mph, smashing it four rows deep into the seating area past the right-field fence.

“Plain and simple, tried to beat him with heaters -- and I didn’t,” Paddack said. “After seeing the 3-1 swing in the first at-bat, the bat goes flying, I kind of got big-chested there. He humbled me a little bit. … To be honest, man, there’s not a lot of guys that have that success on my heater back-to-back times.”

As Baz put it: “I don’t think that those at-bats were pitched badly at all. It was kind of like he was fighting his at-bats and just waiting for his pitch. The kid is something different.”

Caminero has plenty of pull-side power, of course, but he has the strength and elite bat speed to crush balls to all fields. Among hitters who took at least 200 swings last season, Caminero’s average bat speed (77.2 mph) ranked seventh in the Majors. That allows him to generate the eye-popping exit velocities he has produced during his brief time in the big leagues.

“That's part of my game,” Caminero said. “It's a God-gifted talent, the power that I have, and I just try to go there and perform and just try to have fun and control the things that I can control.”

But which home run did Caminero like better, the one to center or the one to right?

“Both,” he said in English, smiling.