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By Ben Watanabe
Contributing Sports Writer
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The best thing anyone can say about Kristian Campbell is that people want to believe in him.
Boston Red Sox fans were eager to embrace the unassuming prospect when he made the opening day roster last season after a strong spring training. Early on, things looked promising. He was downright dominant for the first month, batting .301 with four home runs in 29 games, and inspired the front office to sign him to a new contract that kept him under club control through 2034. The Red Sox appeared to have a franchise second baseman for the first time since Dustin Pedroia's premature retirement.
The unraveling came quickly.
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Campbell's offense cratered across the board, leading to an 87 OPS+ and negative-0.9 WAR. He returned to Triple-A Worcester, where he's been ever since amid questions that the Red Sox might have broken him by promoting him too quickly.
Suddenly, Campbell is hitting again in the minors -- and Red Sox fans are right back to wanting to believe in him.
"Kristian Campbell is hitting .393 over his last 18 games in Worcester," crowed the "Red Seat Podcast" on X, and it's true. By many measures, the 24-year-old is back on track. His .357 on-base percentage is particularly encouraging. Even if he never develops as a power hitter, there's a place for a singles hitter who can get on base in MLB. From there, things get complicated.
The Red Sox no longer view Campbell as a second baseman or even as an infielder. He's only been used in the outfield and at designated hitter this season, mostly in the corner outfield spots. There doesn't appear to be an organizational belief that he translates well to centerfield despite his athletic 6-foot-3, 210 pound frame. That tempers some of the excitement, because Wilyer Abreu is entrenched in right field with the big club, and a slap-hitting left fielder isn't anything to get excited about. Roman Anthony presumably will be back one day, so left field is taken anyway.
When he first came up, Campbell has billed as a talent who could play any position, but over time he's come to feel more like a player without a position. That's one problem. The other is that, aside from the recent hot stretch, Campbell hasn't shown that he's figured it out at the plate.
His scorching July, when he posted a 1.059 OPS, was offset by a much more modest April, May and June. Twenty-two of his 73 hits this season came in that month. He's not hitting left-handed pitching (albeit in a small sample) and he's constantly behind in the count, which is an added problem because when he falls behind in the count, he can't get on base.
That's a long way of saying the results have been mixed. For every promising sign, there are a number of reasons for caution. If this recent version of Campbell turns out the be the real one, though, the celebration at Fenway Park might be one for the ages. Finally, the fans' belief in him will have been rewarded.
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