CLEVELAND: Yandy Diaz works out with the Cleveland Indians the during the American League Divisional Series against Houston on October 7, 2018, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
It is understandable to think of Junior Caminero as a homegrown product for the Tampa Bay Rays. He essentially is in that the entirety of his professional career in the States has been with the Rays’ organization.
The third baseman, however, was signed by Cleveland as a free agent in 2019 three days before his 16th birthday. In 2021, Caminero got his feet wet with one of two Indians’ Dominican Summer League entries, and surprise, he led the league with nine homers in 43 games.
Among other statistical accomplishments, Caminero became the second player since 1900 with multiple 40-home run campaigns through his age-22 season, which was the case this year given he did not turn 23 until July. (MLB’s criteria is a player’s age on June 30.)
Caminero, who combined to hit 87 homers and drive in 211 runs in his first two full seasons of 2025 and 2026, was acquired by Tampa Bay in November 2021 for pitcher Tobias Myers. The latter was with the Mets this season, his seventh organization and fifth since the trade.
Here are the other former Indians/Guardians who face their former team in the American League Championship Series beginning Monday evening (8:00, TBS/TruTV) at Tropicana Field.
Yandy Diaz
Led by then-baseball ops chief, Chaim Bloom, the Rays’ brass thought Diaz could become a fearsome hitter if he could elevate the ball with a higher degree of frequency. Hard contact was not a problem, though Diaz had all of one homer in 265 MLB at-bats (.283 avg.) with Cleveland at the time of his acquisition in December 2018.
Diaz, then 27, was acquired along with Cole Sulser (below), in a three-team swap that sent Jake Bauers and $5 million from the Rays to Indians, Edwin Encarnacion and a draft pick from the Indians to the Mariners, and Carlos Sanatana from the Mariners to the Indians.
Eight seasons later, Diaz, who turned 35 in August, is indeed one of MLB’s top batters. The two-time all-star won a batting title in 2023 (.330), is a .291 hitter in 970 games with Tampa Bay and has topped 20 homers three times, including 22 this season. It all adds up to an .818 OPS since arriving in St. Pete.
Kevin Kelly
The righthanded reliever has flummoxed opposing batsmen with a unique arm angle, sweeper and, more recently, crippling changeup. In four seasons with the Rays since some maneuvering in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft when he was plucked by Colorado from Cleveland and immediately shipped to the Rays (in exchange for cash), Kelly has a 3.23 ERA and 1.02 WHIP in 237 appearances. Thanks in large part to his change, the 28-year-old was 2.44/0.89 in a career high 71 outings this season. Kelly was selected in the 19th round of the 2019 draft by Cleveland out of James Madison.
Richie Palacios
The Brooklynite was a third-round selection of Cleveland’s in 2018 out of Towson and made his MLB debut with the parent club in 2022. The versatile Palacios, who was stationed at second base this season, was acquired from the Cardinals in January 2024 for reliever Andrew Kittredge. An injury-riddled 2025 campaign (17 games) gave way to a 2026 in which he hit .235, but batted .283 in September with five of his 10 homers and 18 of his 57 RBI while posting a .981 OPS.
Cole Sulser
As noted above, Sulser was acquired by the Rays from Cleveland along with Yandy Diaz in December 2018. The righthander reliever made his MLB debut with Tampa Bay in 2019 and, after stops in Baltimore, Miami, Arizona and New York, Sulser found his way back to the Rays, who got him from the Mets in exchange for cash in July 2024.
The 36-year-old California native, who Cleveland selected in the 25th round of the 2013 draft out of Dartmouth, posted a 4.31 ERA and 1.24 WHIP while converting all three of his save opportunities this season. Sulser has appeared in 82 games in his two stints with the Rays and has a 2.94 ERA.
Kevin Cash
The Rays’ skipper for the past dozen seasons served as Terry Francona’s bullpen coach in Cleveland in 2013 and 2014. Cash, a catcher, played for Francona in Boston during the 2007, 2008 and 2010 seasons. The Tampa native, who with 994 wins in piloting the Rays is approaching quite a milestone, has nothing but praise for the how the ALCS foe goes about its business.
“I am incredibly grateful and appreciative of everybody over there for the help they provided me in my two years,” he said during Sunday afternoon’s press conference, noting not only Francona, but also current GM Mike Chernoff and head of baseball ops, Chris Antonetti, who was with Cleveland when Cash was there. “They are first-class individuals who run a first-class organization.”
On the other side, manager Stephen Vogt (2012, drafted by TB 2007), reliever Shawn Armstrong (2022-24) and 1B/DH Nathaniel Lowe (2019-20, drafted by TB 2016) spent time with the Rays.
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