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By Jon Vankin
Contributing Sports Writer
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Following the 2022 season, the Boston Red Sox front office earned the disdain of the team's fans and media when it allowed fan-favorite shortstop Xander Bogaerts — who was a key part of two Red Sox World Series championships, in 2013 and 2018 — to leave as a free agent. Bogaerts signed an 11-year, $280 million contract with the San Diego Padres.
According to one local scribe, who seemed to sum up the collective anger of the Red Sox fan base, the team's management would "never live down" its "botching" of the Bogaerts situation.
But largely unnoticed at the time was the fact that, for letting Bogaerts go to San Diego, the Red Sox were awarded a compensatory draft pick, to be used in 2023 after the regular fourth round was completed. The pick would be the 132nd player taken in the 2023 draft, overall.
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The Red Sox, under then-chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, used the pick on Kristian Campbell, a 21-year-old infielder who had played one season of college baseball for Georgia Tech.
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Now, less than two years later and following one of the most remarkable, meteoric rises through the Red Sox farm system in recent memory, Campbell is a major leaguer, making Boston's big league roster as reported by Chris Cotillo of MassLive after the Red Sox wrapped up their Grapefruit League schedule, losing 9-3 to the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.
Campbell, now 22, played mostly at second base in spring training. He now stands a good chance to start there on opening day for Boston when they get the season underway in Texas against the Rangers on Thursday.
Campbell is currently rated the Red Sox's No. 2 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline, and No. 7 among all MLB prospects — quite a rapid climb up the ladder for a player who was ranked just 255th nationally heading into the 2023 draft by Baseball America.
But after posting solid numbers at the Rookie League and Single-A levels in 2023, Campbell put together a sensational 2024 season, starting in Single-A, then earning fast promotions to the Double-A and Triple-A levels.
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Batting .330 with 20 home runs and a .997 OPS across all three levels, Campbell was named 2024 Minor League Player of the Year by both Baseball America, and prospect-expert Keith Law of The Athletic.
Perhaps because the Red Sox have a shortage of depth at the second base position, Campbell gained an advantage over the organization's No. 1 prospect Roman Anthony (No. 2 overall) and No. 3 prospect Marcelo Mayer (No. 12 overall), both of whom produced significantly better numbers in spring training than Campbell.
While Campbell finished Grapefruit League play with a rather anemic .586 OPS in 19 spring games, Mayer played in 19 games with a .956 OPS. A shortstop and the team's 2021 first-round draft pick, fourth overall, Mayer is now 22 years old. Anthony is just 20. A second-round pick in 2022, the Parkland, Florida, native posted a .720 OPS in 16 games, all in the outfield.
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