ST. PETERSBURG - Junior Caminero, the 23-year-old third baseman who started all 162 games for the Tampa Bay Rays this season, hit 42 home runs and drove in 101 runs to help power the club to a 98-64 record - the best in the American League - and the No. 1 seed heading into the postseason.

The two-time All-Star and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, native followed a 45-homer, 110-RBI campaign last year with another MVP-caliber season, this time adding improved plate discipline and defense. His walk-off home run against the Houston Astros on Sept. 11 at Tropicana Field clinched Tampa Bay’s first postseason berth since 2023 - and was, by his own account, his favorite moment in the big leagues.

“Clinch night, my guy. My favorite. My first walk-off,” Caminero said. “That moment, that was unbelievable. My favorite moment was that night. I can’t believe it. My guy, we shouted that night. My voice was going out.”

Caminero hit a second walk-off homer against the Oakland Athletics days later. He enters the postseason as the face of the franchise, with the Rays having swept past the AL’s field in the regular season standings.

“I feel ready for a moment like that, and I can’t wait for what’s coming,” Caminero said, reflecting on the 2023 AL Wild Card Series in which Tampa Bay was swept in two games by the Texas Rangers. “I try every year to come here and make the postseason. This year, we made it, so I’m feeling great. It feels different.”

Caminero was traded to the Rays at 18 after a single season in Cleveland’s Rookie-level Dominican Summer League in 2021, a move he said initially confused him. “That happened really quick. In that moment, as a young player, I was surprised. ‘Why did Cleveland trade me? We played just one year in the Dominican, and they traded me?’” he said. “But in that moment, I didn’t understand baseball. Like, hey, if you get traded, it’s good for you. It was an unbelievable trade. Thank God.”

The Rays called him up from Double-A in September 2023, giving him a brief taste of the postseason before the early exit. Now, entering October as the AL’s top seed, Caminero said the hunger that drives his game is rooted in family. “I come here every single day hungry, you know? I need practice. I need hitting. I want to practice every single day,” he said. “If your mentality is strong every single day, good chance good things are going to happen in the game.”

The Rays’ AL Wild Card Series is scheduled to begin this week, with Tampa Bay hosting as the No. 1 seed at Tropicana Field.