Saguaro freshman Cam Caminiti embraces family baseball legacy
Cam Caminiti was given jersey No. 11 to start his Scottsdale Saguaro baseball career. It is the number Ken Caminiti first wore coming up with the Houston Astros.
It’s significant for the 6-foot-2, 195pound freshman. He’s grown up in baseball, being told stories about his cousin, from being the 1996 National League Most Valuable Player with the San Diego Padres, being a 15-year Major League Baseball veteran, a three-time All-Star, a three-time Golden Glove at third base.
He also knows how Ken’s life ended at 41 years old in 2004 from a drug overdose.
Even with the passage of time, before arriving at Saguaro last summer, at every ballpark across the country, at the 2020 13U Select Festival and the 2021 14U Select Festival for Perfect Pitch, Cam would overhear someone say, “Is he related to Ken Caminiti?”
“I never met him, but I feel I’m connected to him,” Cam said. “I want to play up to his name.”
Cam Caminiti is only 15. But he’s built and plays like a man and is already committed to LSU. That’s where Ken’s daughter Lindsey attended college and where Cam hopes to continue as a twoway player, a left-handed hitter and pitcher who plays center field when he’s not on the mound. Lindsey gave Cam insight into the school as he went through the quick recruiting process.
Former Arizona baseball coach Jay Johnson recruited Caminiti once he got to LSU this year, and it didn’t take long for him to say yes to an offer.
“I love Coach Jay, I love the campus, the culture, as well,” Caminiti said. “I love their academics, too.”
Cam bats leadoff now for the Sabercats, leading the team in extra-base hits and walks, while hitting above .300. In Tuesday’s 10-0, run-rule win over Tempe Marcos de Niza, a game in which the Sabercats wore colorful jerseys with jigsaw puzzle pieces to raise awareness for Autism, he batted twice in the first inning, smacking a double down the right-field line and walking.
As a left-hander on the mound, he has touched 94 mph on the radar gun.
“He’s just a baseball kid,” said Dominic Caminiti, Cam’s father, who was 10 years younger than Ken growing up. Dominic’s father and Ken were first cousins. And very close.
Dominic grew up in Chicago, and, whenever the Padres had a game at Wrigley Field, Dominic and some of his buddies would go to the game and watch Ken play. Then, afterwards, he would hang out with him.
Cam trains like he’s getting ready for the next big step in his baseball career. In the offseason, he worked at a facility where Major League players train to get ready for the season. It was there that he met San Francisco Giants pitcher Alex Cobb and outfielder David Dahl, who is now in the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization.
In the second game of the season, when Caminiti got his first start of his varsity career against rival Chaparral, Cobb and Dahl were in attendance to watch the kid pitch.
“It was so cool,” Dominic said. “Alex was sitting behind me. And David was sitting a few seats down. They’re texting Cam and telling him what a good job he did. It’s really cool. He gets to be around some really big names and they treat him like he’s one of them.”
Caminiti has the same personal hitting coach as Diamondbacks catcher Carson Kelly. In November, Caminiti was asked to come by Salt River Fields, where Diamondbacks first-base coach Dave McKay was throwing batting practice while the coach of the Chicago Cream 18U team was there to evaluate.
The scout led the 18-and-under Chicago Cream to Caminiti and the tryout at Salt River.
“I said, ‘He’s going to be 15, and this is an 18-year-old team,’ “Dominic said.
“He said, ‘Yeah, but there’s a scout who saw him and said, ‘we have to have him.’”
After a couple of good batting practice rounds, the Chicago Cream coach told Dominic, “He’s on the team.”
“I said, ‘He’s only 15,’” Dominic said.
“The coach said, ‘He reminds me of Alex Verdugo and he played for me for two summers.’”
Verdugo, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers when he was 18 out of Tucson Sahuaro High School, is now playing in the outfield for the Boston Red Sox. Verdugo, like Caminiti, still aspires to be a two-way player in the majors.
That comparison led Dominic to compare his son’s numbers to that of Verdugo’s when he was 18 to put it into context.
Caminiti takes every day on the field in stride, trying not to get too far ahead of himself.
“I just want to go out and play and have fun,” said Caminiti, who was born in Scottsdale. “I feel like everyone has embraced me. I don’t put too much pressure on myself. We have to play as a team.”
Saguaro coach Joe Muecke has made sure Caminiti is not lifting too much of a heavy load this early in his high school career. He has to remind himself that Caminiti is only a freshman.
“With his physique, you wouldn’t pick him out as a freshman off the bus,” Muecke said. “But maturity-wise, he’s super humble. He respects the game and his teammates. He approaches the game the right way.”
Muecke said the Caminiti name is embraced by Cam, who doesn’t put extra pressure on himself.
He said Caminiti already has made big gains his freshman season with things coming effortlessly.
With Thomas DeChesaro on the mend with a knee injury, Caminiti has become the Friday starter. He’ll get the ball Friday at home when it will be Senior Day to face Chandler Seton Catholic, which is a game behind first-place Saguaro (14-10, 5-1) in the 4A Desert Sky Region.
He can clinch the region championship with a win.