Rays prospect delivers slowest home run trot and highest bat flip possible in Dominican League

We have talked about celebrations in the Dominican Professional Baseball League (LIDOM) before.

But nothing may top what we saw in Game 7 of the championship between Leones del Escogido and Tigres del Licey this week.

The decisive game was tied at 5-5 in the top of the ninth inning — this is a crucial point that you must remember — when Tampa Bay Rays prospect Junior Caminero came to the plate with one out. With the count 1-0 in his favor, Caminero turned on a 104-mph fastball left over the plate and belted it 454 feet to center field for the go-ahead home run.

That touched off an epic home run trot that lasted a minute:

There are a few things of note regarding this home run, and the celebration that followed. The first detail involved just how much Caminero crushed this pitch, which you can glean from what it does to the scoreboard. Here is an image of the scoreboard in center field while the home run is still in flight:

Then the aftermath, as it becomes apparent that Caminero’s blast broke said scoreboard:

Then there is the extended celebration before Caminero even reaches first base, punctuated by a lengthy stop at the first-base bag:

Caminero actually gets around second bag rather quickly, but there is again an extended stop at third, as he celebrates with the third-base coach:

Finally, he rounds third and heads home, where he is met by a crowd of people that includes not just his teammates, but also his mascot:

Astute observers, such as the brilliant minds at Reddit, noted that this was all touched off with a bat flip for the ages. That is illustrated with this photo after Caminero sent his lumber to the shadow realm:

Some Space-X test rockets did not last as long in flight.

Again, this all happened in the TOP OF THE NINTH INNING. Licey actually put the tying run on third and the winning run on second, but this diving catch in right field ended the threat, crowning Escogido champions:

That catch also allows us to savor this epic celebration a little bit more.

As for Caminero, he appeared in 43 games for the Rays this past season, slashing .249/.299/.424.

But in ten games in LIDOM this winter he put up a slash line of .424/.457/.546, along with a home run trot for the ages.