In baseball, there’s bat flips and celebrations, and then there’s what Junior Caminero did Monday night.
The Tampa Bay Rays infielder is currently playing for the Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Professional Baseball League — managed by future Baseball Hall of Famer Albert Pujols — and led his team to the league championship series against Tigres del Licey.
After splitting the first three games of the series, the championship round was sent to a decisive Game 7. In the top of the ninth inning, it was tied at five and Caminero went up to the plate.
In one of the most epic of scenes, Caminero took a 104 mile per hour pitch to center field and the ball went over the great wall at 411 feet to give his team the late lead. The entire Leones team erupted from the dugout and Caminero made sure to soak up every moment of the clutch hit, celebrating with his teammates and around the diamond as the announcer had an incredible reaction.
Caminero had good reason to celebrate the homer. It ended up being the game-winning run, as Leones held Tigres scoreless in the bottom of the ninth to win the championship and end the chance of a three-peat title.
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It surely was a home run celebration you wouldn’t typically see in MLB, but was absolutely one of the most electric reactions one could ever witness. Perhaps it could be something the U.S. could see in 2025. Caminero made his MLB debut in 2023 at the age of 19 and played in 43 games last season.
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