Rising Red Sox prospect Kristian Campbell has been named the Eastern League Player of the Week for the week of June 10-16, Minor League Baseball announced on Monday.
Campbell enjoyed a productive week in Double-A Portland’s series against the Reading Fightin Phils. Appearing in all six games at FirstEnergyStadium, Campbell went 12-for-28 (.429) with four doubles, two home runs, seven RBIs, nine runs scored, one stolen base, one walk, and eight strikeouts.
After collecting six hits in the first two games of the series, Campbell went 0-for-5 on Thursday to snap a nine-game hitting streak. He then went deep twice on Friday to mark the first multi-homer game of his professional career and closed out the weekend by stroking three more hits on Sunday.
Since being promoted on June 4, Campbell has batted .392/.456/.667 with six doubles, one triple, two home runs, 10 runs driven in, 13 runs scored, two stolen bases, five walks, and 10 strikeouts in his first 12 games (57 plate appearances) with Portland. This comes after he slashed .306/.418/.558 with 13 doubles, eight homers, 25 RBIs, 29 runs scored, three stolen bases, 26 walks, and 47 strikeouts in 40 games (177 plate appearances) with Greenville to begin his first full season as a pro.
Defensively, Campbell has seen playing time at two different positions since joining the Sea Dogs earlier this month. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder has started four games at second base and six in center field after being used in a similar capacity with the Drive. He has also started two games as Portland’s designated hitter after serving as Greenville’s DH on eight separate occasions.
Campbell, who turns 22 later this month, is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 30 prospect in Boston’s farm system. The Georgia Tech product was taken by the Red Sox with the 132nd overall selection in last year’s draft, which is the pick the club received as compensation for losing Xander Bogaerts to the Padres in free agency the previous winter.
After signing with the Red Sox for $492,700 last summer, Campbell made his professional debut in the Florida Complex League but quickly worked his way up to Greenville, skipping Low-A Salem altogether, in late August. He then played a major role in helping the Drive take home their first South Atlantic League title since 2017.
As highlighted by The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, Campbell spent most of the offseason in Fort Myers to work on his strength and conditioning as well as his swing. He added some bulk to his wiry frame and proceeded to turn heads in his first spring training by displaying eye-opening exit velocity at the plate on the back fields of the Fenway South complex.
“He hits the crap out of the ball,” Red Sox director of player development Brian Abraham recently told Speier. “His swing is incredibly fast. He drives the ball to all fields. He has really good plate discipline. He’s a hitter that does a lot of things really well. It’s exciting to see what he could potentially do and already what he’s done.”
Cambell is the fourth member of the Sea Dogs to earn Eastern League Player of the Week honors this season, joining Matthew Lugo (April 15-21), Blaze Jordan (April 22-28), and Kyle Teel (May 27-June 2). On the flip side, left-hander Zach Penrod was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Week for the week of May 13-19.
(Picture of Kristian Campbell: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
Blogging the Red Sox 