Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero left Thursday afternoon's spring training game with low back tightness, per the Tampa Bay Times' Marc Topkin.
Caminero logged two at-bats against the Philadelphia Phillies before he got pulled. He struck out swinging both times, seeing just eight pitches on the afternoon, on top of notching three assists in the hot corner.
Cooper Kinney subbed in for Caminero in the bottom of the fourth.
#Rays Caminero left today’s game due to what team said was low back tightness.
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) March 6, 2025
The 21-year-old has appeared in eight Grapefruit League games so far this spring. He is batting .211 with three home runs, one triple, eight RBIs and a 1.075 OPS.
Prior to the 2024 season, Caminero was viewed as a consensus top-five prospect in baseball. He proceeded to hit .249 with six home runs, nine doubles, 18 RBIs, a .724 OPS and a 0.7 WAR in 43 games, exhausting his rookie eligibility in the process.
Caminero hit .424 with a 1.003 OPS in the Dominican Winter League this past offseason, going viral for his clutch home run and ensuing bat flip in Game 7 of the championship series.
It remains to be seen how his back holds up in the coming days, but Caminero was expected to break out as an everyday big leaguer in 2025.
The Rays' next game is scheduled for Friday against the Minnesota Twins. They have additional Grapefruit League contests on the books for Saturday, Sunday and Monday before getting a day off Tuesday.
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Shortly after Miami Dolphins players reported for training camp on Tuesday, Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill suggested he wants to be "better as a leader" after he controversially subbed himself out of Miami's regular-season finale this past January and then told reporters he was "out." While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa addressed the Hill-sized elephant in the room. "I think there’s a lot more vulnerability with Tyreek," Tagovailoa explained, as shared by Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "He’s conversating a lot more with the guys, not just about football, but about things off the field, being vulnerable about some of the things people know about his personal life and things of that nature. I think that’s the first step toward him building true relationships and a real connection with a lot of the guys in there." Following Hill's "out" comment, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier revealed that the 31-year-old speedster never requested a trade. While publicly apologizing to his teammates during a Super Bowl week interview, Hill directly said that Tagovailoa is his "guy." Hill also insisted at the time that he loves Tagovailoa. "Everybody makes mistakes," Tagovailoa added about Hill. "It’s just, some people, they’re in the spotlight, and their deals get pushed out more than some others. So you’ve just got to cut him some grace. That’s our teammate. We love him, but as a person, I think if you get to know him, you’ll love him too." Hill and Tagovailoa likely will need to be on the same page if they want to prevent the Dolphins from going through a franchise reset next offseason. At least head coach Mike McDaniel is reportedly on the hot seat this summer, while Tagovailoa's status beyond the upcoming campaign is up in the air after he suffered a third reported concussion since the fall of 2022 last season. "You guys aren’t the only people that heard that," Tagovailoa said about Hill's "out" statement. "...So when you say something like that, you don’t just come back from that with, 'Hey, my bad.' You’ve got to work that relationship up. You’ve got to build everything up again. It’s still a work in progress, not just for me but for everybody. But like I said, he’s working on himself, he’s working on the things he says he wants to get better with and do better on. So that’s the first step to me, so I commend him for doing that." As of Wednesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the 2024 Dolphins at -275 betting odds to miss the playoffs. Those who believe the relationship between Tagovailoa and Hill is on shaky ground following Wednesday's developments may want to take a flier on such a wager before the odds change later this year.
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