Collecting Caminero in his Early Career
Ryan Field attended several Durham Bulls games last season, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. One extremely talented young player quickly caught Field’s attention: Junior Caminero. The top overall prospect in the Rays’ farm system started showing all he’s capable of on the diamond.
“It’s so different seeing a player play live,” Field said. “He hits the ball so hard. I feel like you can’t see that all the time when you’re watching a game on TV. The stadium isn’t huge, so you can usually sit really close to the field and be pretty close to the players.”
There’s just something about how Caminero plays the game that has really attracted Field.
“I just really like him as a player,” said Field, who lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. “When it comes to hitting, I think he could be a 40-home-run guy every year. Getting to watch him in person, I tend to kind of like players more when I can watch them. We don’t have a major league team here, so I end up rooting a lot for those Rays Triple-A guys.”
Seeing Caminero’s potential as an MLB star in the making, Field started collecting his cards. This past December and January, he loaded up on Caminero when the prices were right during the offseason.
“I honestly think they’re a little low compared to some of the other guys like [Jackson] Chourio and [Jackson] Merrill,” Field said. “He’s probably about half of what those guys are selling for.”
Chasing a Rainbow
Field isn’t new to the prospecting game. However, Caminero has been a different project for him. “He’s kind of the only person where I’ve ever really bought so many cards,” Field said. “I’ll buy Bowman autographs of guys in the minors here and there.”
To date, Field’s biggest Caminero purchase is a 2024 Topps Chrome Sapphire Red numbered to 5 in a PSA 9 slab. His favorite Caminero card he owns is a 2024 Topps Chrome Black Refractor Auto numbered to 10. “I think the black borders are the coolest cards that Topps makes,” Field said.
Field’s top non-autograph Caminero card is easily a 2024 Topps Chrome Gold Speckle Refractor numbered to 50. This close-up shot with Caminero sporting sunglasses and a big smile is a beautiful card.
“I only pretty much collect autographs,” said Field, who has about more than 20 Caminero autos. “I got that one out of 50 because the image was so cool. I might go for a rainbow, I’m thinking. I don’t know if I can afford to get the one-of-one, but I think I have 70% of his 2024 Topps Chrome autograph rainbow. So, that might be my next goal.”
Field’s owns colored Refractors in Black, Orange, Gold, Purple, base Refractor, and six Blues. Those are his favorite because of the color match with the Rays uniforms.
In addition, Field has a number of 2023 1st Bowman Refractor Autos of Caminero. His want list includes a Gold out of 50.
“For me, if it’s not a rookie autograph, it’s usually image based,” Field said. “So, like Stadium Club, Stadium Club Chrome, that sort of thing I could see myself doing.”
Family and Friends
Field, now 27 years old, collected as a kid; his heyday was from 2005-10. His dad was also into cards at the time. “We got a lot of in-person autographs,” Field said. “We would go to games and stuff like that and get the cards signed.”
After they both got out of The Hobby for a few years, they returned when COVID-19 hit. Now, they enjoy collecting together.
“I love it, because we can talk about just the players and the cards and it gives us something to connect with,” Field said.
Having family ties to collecting is always fun. It’s even better when a collector is friends with actual professional athletes. Growing up, Field played travel baseball with Houston Astros outfielder Taylor Trammell and Detroit Tigers pitcher Sawyer Gibson-Long. He has stayed friends with both players. Those guys lead Field to his next collecting quest.
“I kind of want to go for rainbows of all the people I know as well, like Taylor and Sawyer,” Field said. “I want to collect all the cards from my childhood that I remember.”
