Why Saguaro's Cam Caminiti accelerated his journey to the MLB Draft
Ken Caminiti died before Cam Caminiti was born. But Cam, the left-hander who made a meteoric rise in just three years of high school at Scottsdale Saguaro, heard the stories.
He saw the Major League Baseball highlights. And he wanted his cousin's number.
Wearing No. 11, Cam Caminiti dominated this year on the mound, showed off his two-way skills with his bat, and now is in position to achieve his big-league dream.
Caminiti was invited by Major League Baseball to attend Sunday's draft in Arlington, Texas, where he's expected to hear his name called in the first round. He could crack the top 10. Only Phoenix Desert Vista shortstop Corey Myers (fourth pick of 1999 draft by the Diamondbacks) and Tucson Sahuaro shortstop Sam Khalifa (seventh pick of 1982 draft, by the Pittsburgh Pirates) have been taken within the first 10 picks of the first round right out of an Arizona high school since the 1980s.
MLB.com ranks Caminiti as the No. 15 overall prospect in the 2024 draft. He could be the youngest player taken in this year's draft at age 17.
"Cam's agent is confident that he'll be going in the first round," said Dominic Caminiti, Cam's dad. "If he wasn't, we wouldn't be going.
"It's very exciting."
Embracing his cousin's bulldog mentality
Ken Caminiti was taken in the third round of the 1984 draft out of San Jose State, made his MLB debut with the Houston Astros in 1987, became a National League Gold Glove third baseman, and, in 1996, with the San Diego Padres, was the NL MVP, hitting .326 with 40 home runs and 130 RBIs.
Ken Caminiti played 15 Major League seasons. He died in 2004 at the age of 41. Authorities cited a combination of drugs coupled with a weakened heart as contributing to his death. Ken Caminiti will be inducted into the Astros Hall of Fame next month, the team announced earlier this year.
Seeing highlights of how Ken played -- diving for balls, legging out hits, stretching doubles -- drove Cam on the baseball field to the point where last summer he decided to reclassify and graduate from high school a year early.
Cam's left arm became a lightning bolt this spring, once striking out the first 16 batters he faced in a game against Glendale Deer Valley, touching 97 miles per hour with his fastball as early as the first inning, when he needed only nine pitches to strike out the side.
But Cam also wants to hit, taking a page from superstar Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers. He's keeping that option open as the draft approaches.
"He really wants to (be like Ohtani)," his father said. "There's several teams that like him in the outfield. They like his athleticism. They like his left-handed swing. At 17, I can only imagine what he's going to look like when he's 20, 21."
Caminiti is 6-foot-3, 205 pounds now. Throws in the high 90s. And has a changeup that keeps batters from sitting on the fastball and makes them look silly when they take swipes at it.
"The teams who have shown us really good development models, they think maybe halfway into his fourth season, he would get a chance to be a starter in the MLB," Dominic said. "If everything lined up, maybe the end of his third season."
Caminiti signed with college power LSU in November, then turned his attention to the mound for a stellar 2024 season in which he was The Arizona Republic's Player of the Year, the Gatorade Arizona High School Baseball Player of the Year and a MaxPreps' first-team All-American.
"No surprises," Saguaro coach Joe Muecke said about how well Caminiti has adjusted to his sped-up process. "The hard work is showing through in every phase of his game.
"To reclassify and still put that work in, I don't think people truly understand what that type of dedication and time, energy and sacrifice he's made,'' Muecke said. "To be able to do that, passing those classes, graduating early, but, at the same time, putting in the hours in at the facilities and team practices, and then go out and perform when the lights go on.''
Cam has taken a page out of his cousin's bulldog mentality. Last season, Cam went 9-0 on the mound with a 0.93 ERA, striking out 119 batters in 52 innings. He also hit .493 with three home runs, 33 runs scored, 28 RBIs and an on-base percentage of .679.
"He was a great player; he played as hard as he possibly could," Caminiti said about his cousin. "That's probably the main thing I take away. He just put it all out on the baseball field, every inning, every pitch."
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Muecke said there were two things Major League Baseball teams wanted to see out of Caminiti this year:
- The competitor. "They saw a real big uptick in the fire that he played with on the field, the passion, that real leadership that you hope for out of a senior. What he can leave on the field. You saw that."
- What kind of teammate he would be. "Hanging out with the guys after the game. Being one of the guys. It was never the Cam Show, even though it felt that way. It was a team mindset."
Nerves of steel showed throughout. Muecke loved the quote Caminiti gave The Republic after beating Bishop Gorman. Gorman had every player in its program in the dugout, standing the entire time, trying to rattle Caminiti on the mound.
Asked about that afterward, Caminiti said: "I didn't even hear them. They should have brought the whole school."
Since the conclusion of last season, capping a year in which he doubled his academic workload to graduate a year early, Caminiti has been working on his strength and stamina, leaving baseball mostly alone.
After pitching a two-hitter in a 2-1 win over Oro Valley Canyon del Oro, striking out 11 batters, for the 4A state championship, Caminiti has been mostly found at Banner Sports Medicine Scottsdale, a state-of-the-art facility, where he receives one-on-one attention from trainers. He also sees a mental coach. Once in a while he'll run into a big leaguer, like Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly, and soak up knowledge.
"Obviously, I want to gain more miles an hour (on my fastball)," Caminiti said. "That's just going to come with aging, maturity, getting stronger.
"I don't have a time frame. I want to get to the big leagues as fast as I possibly can. I think the biggest thing for that is to stay in the weight room, keep training, do everything I possibly can."
Whatever he has needed to do to get here, Caminiti knew early in his high school career that he was going to embrace every challenge, every new goal.
"My goals are being an All-Star, win the World Series, be a champion, and be a Hall of Famer at the end of the day," Caminiti said.
That process begins Sunday with the draft.
Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. He also covers Grand Canyon University athletics and the Arizona Rattlers. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azc_obert