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Twenty-seven year old Daz Cameron used two April meetings against a pair of World Series winning pitchers to set up a big month of May.
He combined to go 5-for-9 in both of those Triple-A games against championship winning pitchers Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel.
With three-time Cy Young award winner Verlander on the mound for the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, Cameron cracked a double. In totality, he turned in a 3-for-5 game with a single, two doubles and two runs scored.
“At the time, it was a guy I was traded for back in 2017,” Cameron recalled. “Facing Verlander I would say was special for me in a sense because I was traded for him. And to get a hit off of him made me feel 1,000 times better about myself.”
Eleven days later, he followed that up with a 2-for-3 outing with a double, home run, RBI and run scored against the Tacoma Rainiers who started another Cy Young award winner in Dallas Keuchel. The home run came off of Keuchel.
Both games were wins for the Las Vegas Aviators.
Cameron was 11-for-46 (.239) in the 14 games played prior to the Keuchel meeting with 13 strikeouts and six walks.
His average was .195 without counting the outing against Verlander’s Space Cowboys.
“Daz is a pretty cool customer,” manager Fran Riordan said. “He’s been around the game at a high-level growing up with one of the best that’s ever done it in the game. He just kind of understands that baseball is a really hard game – you’re going to have good days, you’re going to have bad days so he doesn’t get too high and doesn’t get too low.”
Daz is the son of former major leaguer Mike Cameron, who logged three Gold Gloves in his 17-year career.
“I don’t know his dad much but I know he’s a father,” Riordan said. “And I know he’s got to be proud of what Daz has done in his career and hopefully where he’s going to go [...] He’s seen everything, witnessed everything, felt everything. To have that resource as someone to talk to everyday about what happened that day is such a beautiful thing.”
Daz has already done something this season that dad, Mike, never did in his near two-decade career. That was double off the future Hall-of-Famer Verlander albeit during a rehab assignment during a Triple-A game in April.
Mike went 1-for-2 with a walk against Verlander during his career, all of which came in 2009.
“I didn’t even text him and tell him I was facing Verlander,” Daz said. “But to know that I got a hit off Verlander, I’m sure he felt a way about it. It was cool to me, like I said, Justin Verlander is one of the greats.”
The younger Cameron used those experiences against those high-level pitches to turn up the heat on his 2024 campaign. He’s batting .340 since April 18 when the team met Keuchel’s Rainiers. His numbers are bolstered by 11 doubles, two triples, six home runs, 26 RBI and 21 walks versus 10 strikeouts.
In May specifically, he batted .407 with four of those homers and 19 RBI.
“As far as the performance, I think that’s what routine does,” he said. “The game is to be played to show your skillset, the things you’ve worked on throughout the day.”
Cameron, a known speedster who tallied seven stolen bases on the year to this point, acknowledges the duality in today’s game that requires both power and speed.
“Being a speedster with pop in your bat is definitely a reliable source for any team,” he said. “When you’re not hitting as much you can still make contact to put the ball in play and get on base and steal a bag to help your team win.
“It goes a long way man."
The most recent pop in Cameron’s bat netted him a call-up to the Oakland Athletics. He rewarded the organization with a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of his A’s debut.
That went down as his first major league home run since 2022.
Cameron went 2-for-5 in his ‘24 debut with a single, home run, RBI and two runs scored as part of a 10-9 extra inning win over the Colorado Rockies Thursday, May 23.
Prior to his call-up, he spoke about doing the necessary work to become a complete five-tool player.
“I feel like every part of my game I should be able to work on,” he said. “The power will go up with the more contact I make. As far as the fielding, I feel like that’s there now. But in every area of my game I think I should always be improving everyday.”
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