We’re placing a bow on Prospect Week with a post-hype take a look at certainly one of final season’s prime farmhands, Kristian Campbell. This time final 12 months, Campbell was the largest riser on prospect lists throughout the business, a consensus prime 10 participant who had gone from relative obscurity to the cusp of the massive leagues in only a 12 months. Now, as we head into the spring’s first contests, he’s fallen out of the lineup and is prone to start the 2026 season in Triple-A. His profession path serves as an excellent reminder that progress isn’t linear, and {that a} participant’s improvement path doesn’t conclude when he reaches the majors or exhausts his standing as a rookie.
After enjoying only one season of school baseball, Boston chosen Campbell within the fourth spherical of the 2023 draft as a toolsy participant with contact ability but in addition a unusual, uneven swing. He placed on 15-20 kilos of muscle that offseason, which helped spark an offensive explosion. His energy shot from common to plus in a single day, and he began lifting the ball extra, each of which he managed with out ballooning his whiff charges out of proportion. He posted a 178 wRC+ throughout three ranges that season, with 20 homers and a sub-20% strikeout fee. Although little about his operation within the field seemed standard, loads of evaluators — together with, critically, the Crimson Sox brass — absolutely purchased in. The Crimson Sox put Campbell on the Opening Day roster after which inked him to an eight-year, $60 million extension lower than every week into the season.
Initially, all went nicely. Campbell received AL Rookie of the Month honors in April after hitting .301/.407/.495 with 4 homers. His strikeout fee crept north of 25%, which wasn’t itself alarming, because it got here with energy and a 15% stroll fee; it’s completely regular for rookies to swing and miss a bunch as they regulate to the league anyway. Defensively, Campbell was primarily enjoying second base whereas additionally filling in left and heart. He didn’t look nice on the keystone, and the jury was nonetheless out on his long-term defensive house, but when nothing else, his versatility was itself a lift for the ballclub.
On April 30, Campbell went 0-4 in a sport towards the Blue Jays, after which missed the subsequent three video games with rib discomfort. We will’t know to what extent that harm bothered him. Campbell, for his half, stated it wasn’t a problem by late Might: “No. That’s all clear. There was just a bit aspect discomfort, but it surely’s all good.” Regardless, it was a turning level in his season:
April Flowers and Might Showers
| BA | OBP | Slugging | Okay% | BB% | ISO | wRC+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March-April | .301 | .407 | .495 | 26% | 15.4% | .194 | 150 |
| Might-June | .159 | .243 | .222 | 28.5% | 7.1% | .063 | 30 |
By mid-June, the Crimson Sox had seen sufficient and despatched Campbell to Triple-A for the rest of the season. Critically, his dip in manufacturing coincided with a sudden and full incapability to tug the ball.
April:
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Might:
Campbell wasn’t mauling good velo over the Inexperienced Monster even in April, however he did hit some heaters exhausting to the left of second base and had no hassle driving spin out to left. He bought again to that in Triple-A, although considerably troublingly all of his pull-side harm got here on hanging breaking balls. As Campbell gutted by means of an unspectacular summer season in Worcester — 118 wRC+, 26.7% strikeout fee — the Crimson Sox lineup hummed with out him. A mixture of gamers capably crammed in at second, Romy Gonzalez most notably amongst them, whereas Boston had extra good outfielders than room to play them. All around the headlines in March and April, Campbell ended the 2025 marketing campaign a forgotten man.
Even at his peak, Campbell was a considerably divisive participant. Whereas some scouts had been prepared to miss his unorthodox swing, others had been apprehensive about his mechanics. He had a double toe faucet after which a giant entrance hip leak that labored partly as a result of he has big hip-shoulder separation and was capable of maintain from flying open at the same time as his decrease half crept towards third base. The higher half was additionally regarding for some evaluators, as Campbell’s violent and rotational hack got here with numerous head motion and sometimes left him off stability. Plus bat velocity and good hand-eye coordination helped, however not all people liked what they noticed.
Having actually purchased the breakout, it’s honest to marvel if Boston is now taking the collapse at face worth as nicely. There are indicators, if you wish to take a look at it that means. The Crimson Sox despatched Campbell to winter ball this offseason, hoping that quieter actions within the field will once more let him get to his energy. Between these changes, the commerce for Caleb Durbin, and unsettled defensive plans that originally appeared to give attention to the outfield however then made room for him to take groundballs as soon as again in camp (all of this only a few months faraway from when he began working in at first base), you’d be forgiven for pondering that he’s not within the membership’s speedy plans. Truthful sufficient, given final season’s manufacturing and this season’s lineup.
However all the tinkering raises extra questions than it solutions. Have been Campbell’s struggles final Might and June actually the inevitable results of an unconventional swing? Is it potential that the league’s changes to the younger upstart, presumably mixed with a nagging rib challenge, did a quantity on a rookie already shouldering a troublesome defensive load after little or no collegiate and minor-league seasoning? You may make arguments for, towards, or in between on these questions; the man is in limbo, in spite of everything.
Final 12 months, simply after Campbell’s demotion, Eric wrote, “I, like most everybody, entered 2025 satisfied that this weirdo swing would work for Campbell despite the fact that it’s unconventional. Although he was demoted shortly earlier than [list] publication, I nonetheless suppose it should… two years in the past, this man was enjoying in his lone faculty baseball season and now he’s going through the very best pitchers on this planet. He deserves time to regulate and hopefully get stronger so it doesn’t take his complete physique winding up for him to swing exhausting.”
I’ll signal on to that concept, and the remark about elevated energy specifically. It’s an extended season, and all of the shifting components in Campbell’s swing imply {that a} minor disruption to 1 space of the physique would possibly simply throw off the entire operation; having the energy to resist the trials of the schedule is essential for everybody, however maybe him particularly. And let’s not lose sight of the expertise right here. Nevertheless uncommon, Campbell’s bat velocity, quick swing, and good strategy had been, for a time, efficient. The historical past of this sport is filled with guys who went the opposite means with fastballs and tugged breaking balls, and for a month it seemed like Campbell had discovered a technique to comply with these footsteps. I nonetheless suppose he can; whether or not or not he’ll is for us to search out out.