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Kristian Campbell (Photo by Mike Janes/Four Seam Images)
No one saw Kristian Campbell’s 2024 season coming.
When the Red Sox drafted the Georgia Tech product in the fourth round last year, his scouting report described a “slash-and-dash specialist.” The second baseman was an under-the-radar selection in every sense. Campbell appeared on zero post-draft breakout lists and did not rank among Boston’s preseason Top 30 Prospects.
Yet less than a year later, the 22-year-old Campbell stands alone as the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year and one of the top 25 prospects in the sport.
Campbell was the obvious choice, especially in a season filled with injuries and disappointing performance among many of baseball’s best prospects. He climbed from High-A Greenville to Triple-A Worcester by the final month of the season, improving his results at each level.
Campbell’s final line of .330/.439/.558 was among the best in the minor leagues. He hit 20 home runs and stole 24 bases in 115 games. His 180 wRC+ was the best marker in the minors in 2024.
His rise is atypical. Since the Prospect Handbook launched in 2001, Campbell is the first Minor League POY who did not rank among his organization’s preseason Top 30. This wasn’t a misevaluation by the entire industry, but rather a testament to Campbell’s work ethic and the advances in Red Sox hitting development.
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Campbell immersed himself in Boston’s bat speed training program over the offseason. He also altered his bat path, allowing for him to make greater impact at better angles to optimize ball flight. With the assistance of coaching, along with challenge-based training environments embraced by the Red Sox staff, Campbell created heavy buzz in minor league camp entering the season.
Over the course of a year, Campbell transformed from a hitter with below-average power potential to someone evaluators believe is capable of hitting 25 or more home runs in the majors.
“The bat speed is a big thing,” Campbell said. “I worked on it a lot in the offseason with the Red Sox. My bat path had to change a little bit. We tweaked that in the offseason and I just spent time working on it every day.”
Level by level, Campbell felt more comfortable with the swing changes. The results followed, even as the competition got…