Junior Caminero headshot

Junior Caminero

Tampa Bay Rays · 3B · through 2026-09-02

Elite season

Why he matters right now

Junior Caminero is top-10 in the majors in home runs, total bases and RBI

He is 3rd in home runs at 37, 3rd in total bases at 282, 8th in RBI at 88 — placements on MLB's own season boards, which rank every QUALIFIED hitter in the sport rather than the few dozen this site tracks. Qualified is MLB's own bar, and it is the reason a part-season player with a big number is not on these boards at all.

This has been his headline for 13 straight days.

The case in 30 seconds

  • 37 3rd in home runs at 37, 3rd in total bases at 282, 8th in RBI at 88 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
  • .279 .891 OPS, 37 home runs, 88 RBI and 3 stolen bases over 140 games snapshot batting board — the union of MLB's top-10 hitting boards, then MLB's 3.1 PA per team game rule applied; not the league's full qualified pool

The honest caveat

Junior Caminero has 37 home runs and none in 13 games — the longest quiet stretch of his season. It does not undo the case above; it is the part of the record that argues the other way.

What to watch next

Next up: at Texas Rangers. 68 more to reach 350 TB.

Every claim above, with its source (3)
  1. 3rd in home runs at 37, 3rd in total bases at 282, 8th in RBI at 88 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
  2. Junior Caminero has 37 home runs and none in 13 games — the longest quiet stretch of his season. nightly anomaly scan (drought detector), player id matched
  3. .891 OPS, 37 home runs, 88 RBI and 3 stolen bases over 140 games snapshot batting board — the union of MLB's top-10 hitting boards, then MLB's 3.1 PA per team game rule applied; not the league's full qualified pool

Other cases this page considered and did not lead with: Junior Caminero has gone quiet.

The evidence

What changed last night

0-for-4 L 4-10 vs New York Mets · 2026-09-02 carries a .279 average into today

What to watch next

at Texas Rangers Globe Life Field · 8:05 p.m. ET Facing Trevor Williams

Junior Caminero faces a right-hander in Trevor Williams. He is hitting .272 with 29 home runs in 401 at-bats against right-handers this season.

Situational splits

SplitABAVGHRRBIOPS
vs RHP 401 .272 2972 .870
vs LHP 134 .299 816 .949
Home 264 .288 2050 .949
Away 271 .269 1738 .834
Day 214 .276 1634 .892
Night 321 .280 2154 .890

2026 season, MLB Stats API. A split with no plate appearances is omitted rather than shown as zeroes.

140G
535AB
149H
.279AVG
37HR
88RBI
3SB
202B
13B
.891OPS

Chasing .400

.279Current AVG
109Consecutive hits needed to reach .400
105-for-100Needed over next 100 AB
1.135Rest-of-season AVG to finish .400 (101-for-89)

Status: IMPOSSIBLE

Milestone tracker

ChaseTargetCurrentPaceNeeded from hereStatus
.350 AVG .350 .279 .279 .787 ROS EXTREME
.380 AVG .380 .279 .279 1.000 ROS EXTREME
.400 AVG .400 .279 .279 1.135 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
.406 AVG .406 .279 .279 1.180 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
.466 AVG .466 .279 .279 1.596 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
50 HR 50 37 43 13 in 23 g · 1 per 6.8 AB EXTREME
60 HR 60 37 43 23 in 23 g · 1 per 3.8 AB EXTREME
62 HR 62 37 43 25 in 23 g · 1 per 3.5 AB EXTREME
70 HR 70 37 43 33 in 23 g · 1 per 2.7 AB EXTREME
73 HR 73 37 43 36 in 23 g · 1 per 2.5 AB EXTREME
200 Hits 200 149 174 51 in 23 g EXTREME
225 Hits 225 149 174 76 in 23 g EXTREME
250 Hits 250 149 174 101 in 23 g EXTREME
262 Hits 262 149 174 113 in 23 g EXTREME
50 SB 50 3 3 47 in 23 g EXTREME
80 SB 80 3 3 77 in 23 g EXTREME
100 SB 100 3 3 97 in 23 g EXTREME
130 SB 130 3 3 127 in 23 g EXTREME
50 2B 50 20 23 30 in 23 g EXTREME
60 2B 60 20 23 40 in 23 g EXTREME
67 2B 67 20 23 47 in 23 g EXTREME
20 3B 20 1 1 19 in 23 g EXTREME
25 3B 25 1 1 24 in 23 g EXTREME
36 3B 36 1 1 35 in 23 g EXTREME
125 RBI 125 88 103 37 in 23 g EXTREME
150 RBI 150 88 103 62 in 23 g EXTREME
175 RBI 175 88 103 87 in 23 g EXTREME
191 RBI 191 88 103 103 in 23 g EXTREME

How likely is the finish?

67%finishes with 40+ home runs
0%finishes with 50+ home runs
0%finishes with 60+ home runs

His rate of 60.660 home runs per 1,000 plate appearances is read as 54.980 after regressing toward the league's 30.240 — a leaderboard selects for players who have outperformed, so an unregressed rate projected forward overstates every one of them. That puts the expected finish at 41.6, against a straight team-game pace of 43. Exact beta-binomial over 101 remaining plate appearances, averaged across playing-time scenarios. Calibrated against Retrosheet finishes: within 7 points of observed frequency in every band, and within 2 in three of five. It is a model, not a measurement.

Home run pace vs the benchmark seasons

36730162 gJudge 62Bonds 7337
Cumulative home runs by team game against straight 62 (Judge 2022) and 73 (Bonds 2001) paces. The homepage checkpoint card uses the exact game-by-game Retrosheet curves; these reference lines are straight-line paces.
61.4%of comparable chases reached 40 HR
0.4%of comparable chases reached 50 HR
0.0%of comparable chases reached 60 HR

Empirical: seasons within ±2 HR of his total at the same team-game checkpoint (n=264); median finish 40. Retrosheet.

Recent game log

Derived nightly from the snapshot ledger — each row is the difference between consecutive days; multi-day rows are labeled.

DateOppResultABHHRRBIRSBBBKAVG
2026-09-02 New York Mets L 4-10 40 0 00 00 1 .279
2026-09-01 New York Mets W 6-2 40 0 00 00 2 .281
2026-08-31 New York Mets L 2-3 93 0 10 00 1 .283
2026-08-30 San Diego Padres W 5-4 42 1 12 01 2 .282
2026-08-29 San Diego Padres W 7-6 31 1 11 01 0 .280
2026-08-28 San Diego Padres W 9-4 41 0 11 00 0 .280
2026-08-26 Detroit Tigers W 3-0 42 0 00 00 1 .280
2026-08-25 Detroit Tigers L 1-4 42 0 01 00 0 .278
2026-08-24 Detroit Tigers W 4-1 31 0 10 01 1 .277
2026-08-23 Baltimore Orioles W 3-1 31 0 11 01 0 .276

Recent highlights

Lahman + Retrosheet context

How this season fits history

Historical twinNelson Cruz · 2016

88% season-shape match

HR checkpoint-22 vs Barry Bonds

Through 139 team games; 59 in 2001

Chase history

.252.273.29404-2409-02
Batting average, day by day
39465204-2409-02
Projected HR, day by day