Amid all the inconsistency that has plagued the Boston Red Sox amid a 23-25 start to the season, rookie Kristian Campbell was supposed to be a bright spot. One of the top prospects in all of baseball entering the season, he earned a place on the Opening Day roster thanks to a strong close to spring. And at first he seemed like a star in the making, with two homers and four multi-hit efforts across his first eight MLB games.
But then a funny thing happened: Campbell just ... stopped hitting. Like, completely: Over his last 32 games, he's slashing an ugly .194/.275/.298, with a grand total of seven extra-base hits in that span. The underlying numbers are just as bad.
Slumps happen; but this seems like something more. And if you need further proof, just ask the Red Sox themselves, who have decided to sit Campbell for the first two games of the team's series against the New York Mets.
The MLB season is long and winding, especially for a rookie adjusting to life in the Show. But Campbell going into the tank was the last thing Boston could afford; this was a lineup that was having a hard time getting out of second gear already, and it's a sign of just how fragile the Red Sox' offensive ecosystem is right now that they found themselves this reliant on an unproven rookie — even one with as much prospect hype as Campbell came with.
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Kristian Campbell's cold spell presents Red Sox with an uncomfortable dilemma
All of which begs the question: Now what? Campbell was a bit of an odd case as a prospect, a fourth-round pick back in 2023 who shot up prospect rankings and shot through Boston's system thanks to some prodigious production. But that meteoric rise meant that he didn't actually have much experience against high-level pitching; he had just 19 games at Triple-A under his belt when the Red Sox put him on the big-league roster.
Campbell's game, and his unconventional swing, were still a bit unproven, and now we're seeing some holes exposed that we didn't previously know about. In another context, this might be no big deal; but Boston needs Campbell to produce, given how many question marks there are elsewhere in this team's lineup right now (and how dependent they are on outslugging teams as the starting rotation struggles to catch a rhythm).
Benching Campbell was probably the smart move. He looks downright lost right now, hardly doing any damage even against pitches in the strike zone. What comes next is a bit trickier, though, as Alex Cora and Co. need to decide whether to bump Campbell aside for another top prospect like middle infielder Marcelo Mayer or let him try to grow through these early pains and come out the other side. Given how short the leash is for everyone involved right now, the latter is easier said than done.