David Ortiz wasn’t going to stay quiet. The Hall of Fame slugger — now a FOX Sports analyst at the 2026 World Series — went on the record to defend Junior Caminero, the Rays third baseman who arrived in Milwaukee with 42 home runs, 101 RBI, and the fastest bat speed in Major League Baseball. Critics have been circling Caminero for how he celebrates and how he carries himself on the field. But when the guy speaking up has 541 career home runs and three rings, that’s not background noise.
Santo Domingo, a flag, and a viral moment that started it all
The connection between Ortiz and Caminero traces back to October 8, 2026, when the Rays swept the Yankees 3-0 in the ALDS. Caminero celebrated in the clubhouse by shouting ‘Da Yankees lose!’ — the line Big Papi made famous in Boston — and the internet split right down the middle. Some loved it. Some called it disrespectful. Ortiz backed the kid then, and with the World Series underway, he’s doing it again.
Both were born in Santo Domingo. Both hit hard from a young age. And both have carried the label of the Dominican who ‘celebrates too much.’ For Ortiz, defending Caminero isn’t just a sports opinion — it’s looking in a mirror.
The numbers that make this defense impossible to ignore
Caminero finished the 2026 regular season with an .884 OPS and an xwOBA of .364 (91st percentile) — meaning the ball actually comes off his bat even better than his stats suggest. His average exit velocity of 92.7 mph ranks in the 95th percentile, and his bat speed of 79.4 mph is the highest in all of MLB according to Statcast.
- First player in Rays history with back-to-back 40 HR / 100 RBI seasons (45 HR in 2025, 42 HR in 2026)
- Won the 2026 Juan Marichal Award as the best Dominican player of the season, presented by Marichal himself in Santo Domingo on October 20
- His two-run home run in Game 6 of the ALCS against Cleveland sent Tampa Bay to the World Series
- During batting practice on October 23 at American Family Field, he hit a ball that shattered the center field scoreboard — and nearly destroyed the FOX Sports broadcast set where Ortiz works
There is a real weakness, and the Brewers know it: Caminero struck out 129 times in 702 plate appearances, and his chase rate sits at the 44th percentile, below league average. Jacob Misiorowski got to him in the first inning of Game 1. Ortiz lived through that kind of vulnerability early in his own career — which is probably part of why he speaks about Caminero with authority rather than just admiration.
Why this endorsement carries real weight
Ortiz isn’t a retired player calling in from a couch. He’s in Milwaukee, on the FOX Sports set, a few hundred feet from where Caminero is playing his first World Series — sharing the desk with Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. Choosing that stage, at that moment, to publicly stand behind a 23-year-old Dominican with the whole country watching? That lands differently than any studio take.
The 2026 World Series is the first since 1980 — when the Phillies faced the Kansas City Royals — in which both teams are chasing their first championship in franchise history. Big Papi knows exactly what it feels like to be young, Dominican, and carrying the weight of the world at the Fall Classic. He chose to say so out loud.
