Rising Red Sox prospect Kristian Campbell has been named the Eastern League Player of the Week for the week of August 5-11, Minor League Baseball announced on Monday.
Campbell takes home the honor for the second time this season after first doing so for Double-A Portland in mid-June. In the Sea Dogs’ most recent series against the Altoona Curve last week, the right-handed hitting 22-year-old went 8-for-18 (.444) with three home runs, five RBIs, six runs scored, five stolen bases, six walks, and three strikeouts over 25 plate appearances.
After reaching base six times through the first two games of the six-game set at Hadlock Field, Campbell got Thursday off. He then homered in three straight games over the weekend and is now riding a nine-game hitting streak as well as a 26-game hitting streak.
Since being promoted from High-A Greenville on June 4, Campbell has batted a stout .380/.484/.592 with 16 doubles, one triple, seven home runs, 32 RBIs, 43 runs scored, 17 stolen bases, 32 walks, and 33 strikeouts in 49 games (223 plate appearances) for Portland. Among the 98 hitters who have made at least 220 trips to the plate in the Eastern League this season, Campbell leads the pack in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS (1.077), line-drive rate (31.5 percent), and wRC+ (203). He also ranks fifth in swinging-strike rate (7.1 percent) and seventh in walk rate (14.3 percent), strikeout rate (14.8 percent), and isolated power (.212), per FanGraphs.
Defensively, Campbell has seen playing time at four different positions for the Sea Dogs so far this year. The versatile 6-foot-3, 191-pounder has logged 160 2/3 innings at shortstop, 131 innings at second base, 83 innings in center field, and nine innings at third base. He has also made five starts at DH.
Campbell, who turned 22 in June, was selected by the Red Sox with the 132nd overall pick of last year’s draft out of Georgia Tech. That is the same pick the club received as compensation for losing Xander Bogaerts to the Padres in free agency the previous winter.
A native of Georgia himself, Campbell signed with the Red Sox for $492,700, made his professional debut in the Florida Complex League, and then helped Greenville win its second South Atlantic League title before the 2023 campaign drew to a close. Just over a year since entering the pro ranks, Campbell is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 5 prospect in Boston’s farm system and the No. 98 prospect in the sport.
With the recent promotions of Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, and Kyle Teel, Campbell is now the highest-ranked Red Sox prospect on Portland’s roster. With that, it should be worthwhile to see if he can keep this level of production up and possibly reunite with The Big Three in Worcester before the end of the season.
(Picture of Kristian Campbell: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
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