Article: Kristian Campbell Could Use Some Time In Worcester

[Alex Mayes]

At the start of the 2025 season, rookie Kristian Campbell lit the league on fire. Through March and April, Campbell slashed .301/3407/.495. Once the calendar changed to May, though, Campbell began his downward slide. In May, he slashed .134/.184/.171. His early June numbers are slightly better, .182/.250/.273, but it’s obvious he’s still struggling.

Where Campbell shined early in the season was being able to take walks, 19 combined in March and April, good for a 15.4% walk rate. He was patient, and that allowed for him to work with his plate discipline and get into hitter’s counts. In May, Campbell worked a 5.7% walk rate with only five walks in the month. His strikeout rate also jumped up from 26% to begin the season to 31% in May. He was the worst qualified hitter in the sport for May in batting average (.134), OBP (.184), slugging .171), OPS (.355), BABIP (.185), wRC+ (-5), and WAR (-0.9).

Woof. 

Campbell was penciled in by some as a likely Rookie of the Year candidate, and with a hot June and July, he could be back in the conversation, but the month of May has done a lot of damage to that campaign. It likely doesn’t help that Campbell has played three different positions so far this season: second base, center field, and left field. He has been preparing to play first base as well, and was scheduled to make his debut there on June 1 until Alex Cora announced before the game that he would be starting Abraham Toro at first again to keep his bat in the lineup. Campbell likely wouldn’t see time there in the near future with Romy Gonzalez activated off the injured list as well. That has to make trying to figure your way out of a slump difficult. Maybe the Red Sox should turn to Craig Breslow’s former team for some inspiration for what to do with Campbell.

The Cubs’ top prospect Matt Shaw was expected to be the starting third baseman in Chicago for the 2025 season. Shaw was demoted after 68 plate appearances, slashing just .172/.294/.241 with a 26.5% strikeout rate. Those numbers seem incredibly similar to Campbell’s current stretch. Shaw was sent to Triple-A Iowa in mid-April to try and figure things out. It seemed to have worked. Once he was brought back to Chicago in May, he slashed .359/.419/.487. That’s a stark improvement. Like Campbell, Shaw was expected to adjust to the majors quickly and he struggled. The path for Campbell’s return to being a daily contributing member of the team seems pretty clear.

If the Red Sox were to send Campbell back to Triple-A Worcester, something Alex Cora kept the door open for (despite remaining committed to keeping him in the majors), then it would allow the rookie to do a mental reset. He'll be able to slow the game down at a level he should confidently dominate. Polar Park is a hitter’s dream, so playing there should allow him to rediscover his power swing and give him more confidence when he gets called back up. Unrelated to offense, sending him back to Worcester for a while would let him refocus on playing second base. The Red Sox touted Campbell as the second baseman of the future and then moved him around the field while putting him at different spots in the lineup. It’s no wonder that he began to struggle quickly — he didn’t know where he was playing or hitting from game to game. Baseball is already a hard game, and it's made even more difficult when you’re not able to hold a typical pre-game routine for the position you’re supposed to be playing. 

Kristian Campbell is still a rookie, and all rookies go through growing pains. There’s no shame in having to go back to Triple-A to figure things back out. It worked wonders for Matt Shaw this season, and we saw it do the same for Jackson Holliday in 2024. If Campbell is going to step into his everyday role that the front office expects of him, he likely needs some more time in the minors to figure everything back out. As the Red Sox continue to spiral down, there’s no reason to further discourage him. Send him down, let him grow away from the spotlight and call him back up so he can finish the season strong. 

View full article

[Hitch]

Mike Trout went back down the minors after a horrid start, to work out things. If he needed to go down, nobody is above it. I'd be sending Campbell down for a bit personally. He's got a big future, but he needs some time away from the limelight to work out a few things. 

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

4 minutes ago, Hitch said:

Mike Trout went back down the minors after a horrid start, to work out things. If he needed to go down, nobody is above it. I'd be sending Campbell down for a bit personally. He's got a big future, but he needs some time away from the limelight to work out a few things. 

Heck, Mickey Mantle was once sent down!

[notin]

It’s fine to do what’s best for Campbell, but what’s best for Boston?  If he gets demoted, who plays second?

Story has been suggested, since his defense is waning..  But Story’s replacement, Mayer, is currently playing 3b. And their other 3b option is Toro, but hes playing 1b

Hamilton?  He hasn’t shown to be an upgrade over KC.

Grissom has settled into AAA mediocrity.  

Sogard?  He seems like giving status quo another name.
 

Maybe a Hamilton/Grissom platoon? Can the Sox squeeze another platoon on to the roster?  Or a Hamilton/Sogard platoon?  Or, what the heck, a Sogard/Grissom platoon?

Rafaela to 2b, Duran to CF, and Roman the Great to LF?  Or Raffy to SS and Story to 2b? Seems like a lot of re-arranging.

Toro to 3b, Mayer to SS, Story to 2b, Devers to 1b and activate Yoshida? 

Any other options?  

[Hitch]

Just now, notin said:

It’s fine to do what’s best for Campbell, but what’s best for Boston?  If he gets demoted, who plays second?

Story has been suggested, since his defense is waning..  But Story’s replacement, Mayer, is currently playing 3b. And their other 3b option is Toro, but hes playing 1b

Hamilton?  He hasn’t shown to be an upgrade over KC.

Grissom has settled into AAA mediocrity.  

Sogard?  He seems like giving status quo another name.
 

Maybe a Hamilton/Grissom platoon? Can the Sox squeeze another platoon on to the roster?  Or a Hamilton/Sogard platoon?  Or, what the heck, a Sogard/Grissom platoon?

Rafaela to 2b, Duran to CF, and Roman the Great?

Any other options?  

There's a lot to work out, but what's best for Campbell is also what's best for the Sox. Having him scuffle is pointless. And I'd say going down and having a reset is probably best. 

[notin]

2 minutes ago, Hitch said:

There's a lot to work out, but what's best for Campbell is also what's best for the Sox. Having him scuffle is pointless. And I'd say going down and having a reset is probably best. 

It might be, but demotions is not a universal fix.  Alex Mayes isnt the first to suggest demoting Campbell, and it’s a very safe bet it’s come up in the Sox FO before now.  But it clearly hasn’t been done.  Why not?

[Hitch]

1 minute ago, notin said:

It might be, but demotions is not a universal fix.  Alex Mayes isnt the first to suggest demoting Campbell, and it’s a very safe bet it’s come up in the Sox FO before now.  But it clearly hasn’t been done.  Why not?

No definitely not, there's no guarantees. I would imagine it is partly down to them hoping that he was going to find it at the plate and also because of all the reasons you've pointed out. If we had Bregman healthy I think it likely would have happened already. 

We'll see I guess. Hopefully the kid just starts to rip it up starting this weekend. 

[mvp 78]

14 minutes ago, notin said:

It’s fine to do what’s best for Campbell, but what’s best for Boston?  If he gets demoted, who plays second?

Story has been suggested, since his defense is waning..  But Story’s replacement, Mayer, is currently playing 3b. And their other 3b option is Toro, but hes playing 1b

Hamilton?  He hasn’t shown to be an upgrade over KC.

Grissom has settled into AAA mediocrity.  

Sogard?  He seems like giving status quo another name.
 

Maybe a Hamilton/Grissom platoon? Can the Sox squeeze another platoon on to the roster?  Or a Hamilton/Sogard platoon?  Or, what the heck, a Sogard/Grissom platoon?

Rafaela to 2b, Duran to CF, and Roman the Great to LF?  Or Raffy to SS and Story to 2b? Seems like a lot of re-arranging.

Toro to 3b, Mayer to SS, Story to 2b, Devers to 1b and activate Yoshida? 

Any other options?  

If he's demoted, they are just swapping him with Sogard. 

Romy/Hamilton platoon at 2b would be my guess. 

[illinoisredsox]

1 minute ago, notin said:

It might be, but demotions is not a universal fix.  Alex Mayes isnt the first to suggest demoting Campbell, and it’s a very safe bet it’s come up in the Sox FO before now.  But it clearly hasn’t been done.  Why not?

My guess is it’s because they would have to admit they were wrong in bringing him up this quickly.  The contract extension isn’t helping here.

[mvp 78]

11 minutes ago, notin said:

It might be, but demotions is not a universal fix.  Alex Mayes isnt the first to suggest demoting Campbell, and it’s a very safe bet it’s come up in the Sox FO before now.  But it clearly hasn’t been done.  Why not?

They believe he can turn it around. They also don't have someone that can come up and be better than him. It also is admitting that they chose the wrong guy to bring up on day 1. 

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, Hitch said:

No definitely not, there's no guarantees. I would imagine it is partly down to them hoping that he was going to find it at the plate and also because of all the reasons you've pointed out. If we had Bregman healthy I think it likely would have happened already. 

We'll see I guess. Hopefully the kid just starts to rip it up starting this weekend. 

His k rate has gone up a little, but his walk rate dropped dramatically. His other issue is everything he now hits is being pounded into the dirt. Can MLB coaching fix it? 

[notin]

14 minutes ago, illinoisredsox said:

My guess is it’s because they would have to admit they were wrong in bringing him up this quickly.  The contract extension isn’t helping here.

Do teams actually make (or not make) moves based on a refusal to admit they were wrong? Somehow I think they’re is usually more logic than just obstinance.  The logic might not be right or might not work, but that Durant mean it never existed…

[notin]

18 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If he's demoted, they are just swapping him with Sogard. 

Romy/Hamilton platoon at 2b would be my guess. 

Romy currently has another role…

[notin]

11 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They believe he can turn it around. They also don't have someone that can come up and be better than him. It also is admitting that they chose the wrong guy to bring up on day 1. 

If they move Rafaela to 2b, it creates a chance to call up Anthony.  Wouldn’t that move negate any negative PR from calling up the “wrong guy”?

[notin]

My guesses on why he is still in Boston include:

1. Lack of better options.  The ones I mentioned earlier are largely the 2024 options that created the opportunity for Campbell in the first place.

2. Infield injuries.  Things might be different if all our utility infielders were not starting already.

3. Possibly they think he won’t learn to hit MLB pitching by facing AAA pitching.  They know Campbell and what makes him tick.

 

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

If they move Rafaela to 2b, it creates a chance to call up Anthony.  Wouldn’t that move negate any negative PR from calling up the “wrong guy”?

Oh, are we hoping they are going to make the right move here because they certainly won't. The right move if they want to still show Red Sox Nation that they want to compete this year would be Story to 2B, Rafaela to SS, Anthony to LF, Duran to CF and Campbell to WOO (temporarily) if they aren't going to make any trades. I'd just trade Duran though.

[mvp 78]

8 minutes ago, notin said:

Romy currently has another role…

Toro fulltime 1B. Mayer fulltime 3B. 

[moonslav59]

Hey, hey!

KC has a .900 OPS in his last 2 games.

Keep up the demotion talk: it's working.

[moonslav59]

16 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Toro fulltime 1B. Mayer fulltime 3B. 

If Romy can find his 2024 magic vs LHPs, maybe a Toro-Romy platoon at 1B is okay.

I'd think about Mayer at SS vs RHPs and send Story to a platoonship. The problem is that Toro would play 3B vs RHPs and the 1B platoon is messed up.

[mvp 78]

7 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

If Romy can find his 2024 magic vs LHPs, maybe a Toro-Romy platoon at 1B is okay.

I'd think about Mayer at SS vs RHPs and send Story to a platoonship. The problem is that Toro would play 3B vs RHPs and the 1B platoon is messed up.

Cora has said there's a chance they could send Rafaela to 3b.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

2 hours ago, Hitch said:

Mike Trout went back down the minors after a horrid start, to work out things. If he needed to go down, nobody is above it. I'd be sending Campbell down for a bit personally. He's got a big future, but he needs some time away from the limelight to work out a few things. 

Let's review what Campbell has gone through.  He was the only one of the big three to make the MLB roster out of Spring Training.  He was to be the 2B or SS of the future depending on whether Mayer could get his act together.  He started off like he was going to win the ROY then Cora decided to start playing him in the outfield so he could put Hamilton in games, one of the players Cora uses rather than leaving him AAA where he belongs. 

Cora can't figure out that he's supposed to HELP the young guys adjust to the MLB not screw with them.  Then, Casas goes down and Cora decides to add more stress to Campbell as he's trying to adjust to teams having a book on him so he starts working him out at 1B when it's obvious he should be last guy to be at 1B since he already has a future at 2B.  This is simply Cora being Cora.  He's always been clueless and a crap manager.  Then Bregman goes down making it totally obvious that Anthony should be the one practicing 1B at AAA if ownership refuses to get a REAL 1B.  Anthony has already proven he can handle AAA pitching so bringing up Anthony to play 1B can be prepped and then he can start getting used to MLB pitching since the team is going nowhere.

Now go check the stats.  Campbell started far better than Mayer with respect to hitting and fielding.  Now to be fair, shouldn't Cora tell Mayer to go play two outfield positions and ask him to start taking grounders at 1B?  Or is there a double standard for privileged players like Mayer?  See 3B and SS aren't that much different but CF, RF and 1B are very different than 2B.  

If Campbell has had a massive fall off there is only ONE GUY to blame and that is his clueless manager.  You can send him down just to get him away from Cora but Cora has already pigeon-holed him just like he did Duran and Rafaela.  For a guy who came in with the best credentials by far, it's a shame his first exposure to MLB baseball is with a worthless manager like Cora.  They need to fire him now and watch how much better the team will perform.

[Bellhorn04]

2 minutes ago, TedYazPapiMookie said:

Let's review what Campbell has gone through.  He was the only one of the big three to make the MLB roster out of Spring Training.  He was to be the 2B or SS of the future depending on whether Mayer could get his act together.  He started off like he was going to win the ROY then Cora decided to start playing him in the outfield so he could put Hamilton in games, one of the players Cora uses rather than leaving him AAA where he belongs. 

Cora can't figure out that he's supposed to HELP the young guys adjust to the MLB not screw with them.  Then, Casas goes down and Cora decides to add more stress to Campbell as he's trying to adjust to teams having a book on him so he starts working him out at 1B when it's obvious he should be last guy to be at 1B since he already has a future at 2B.  This is simply Cora being Cora.  He's always been clueless and a crap manager.  Then Bregman goes down making it totally obvious that Anthony should be the one practicing 1B at AAA if ownership refuses to get a REAL 1B.  Anthony has already proven he can handle AAA pitching so bringing up Anthony to play 1B can be prepped and then he can start getting used to MLB pitching since the team is going nowhere.

Now go check the stats.  Campbell started far better than Mayer with respect to hitting and fielding.  Now to be fair, shouldn't Cora tell Mayer to go play two outfield positions and ask him to start taking grounders at 1B?  Or is there a double standard for privileged players like Mayer?  See 3B and SS aren't that much different but CF, RF and 1B are very different than 2B.  

If Campbell has had a massive fall off there is only ONE GUY to blame and that is his clueless manager.  You can send him down just to get him away from Cora but Cora has already pigeon-holed him just like he did Duran and Rafaela.  For a guy who came in with the best credentials by far, it's a shame his first exposure to MLB baseball is with a worthless manager like Cora.  They need to fire him now and watch how much better the team will perform.

Is Cora also to blame for Rafaela's recent red hot streak?

[Bellhorn04]

20 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Hey, hey!

KC has a .900 OPS in his last 2 games.

Keep up the demotion talk: it's working.

He's one guy I'm quietly crossing fingers on.  Seems to have an A+ attitude.  Here is where the Sox hitting coaches need to show us if they're any good or not.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

55 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They believe he can turn it around. They also don't have someone that can come up and be better than him. It also is admitting that they chose the wrong guy to bring up on day 1. 

The only wrong guy is Cora.  Campbell could have been just fine, and he EARNED everything he's received unlike Mayer.  The right guy came up to play 2B.  Instead, while red hot the idiot manager started playing him in the outfield and then told him he needed to practice at 1B.  Think about the kid.  Should he have to shoulder all the BS from Cora?  NO.  Cora is a moron.  The kid might still be hitting over .300 if he hadn't been sent to 2 outfield positions and to practice 1B.  We'll never know now.  It was completely unfair of Cora to do it.  

Now we have people saying stupid things like they picked the wrong guy.  He was absolutely the right guy.  He simply got placed with an idiot manager and he's not one of the chosen players like Mayer and Anthony.  When Anthony gets suggested for 1B people are up in arms but when Campbell gets suggested for 2B, CF, RF and then 1B .... no problem.  The bias that exists in the organization and the fan base is pathetic.  Start treating the players as equal human beings.  Let the opportunities be based on performance and let the playing field be level between the players so ONE GUY doesn't have to burden all the idiot moves by the manager.

[notin]

41 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Toro fulltime 1B. Mayer fulltime 3B. 

Toro/Gonzalez - 1b

Story - 2b

Rafaela - SS

Mayer - 3b

Anthony  - LF

Duran - CF

Abreu/Refsnyder - RF

 

I dont like it, but I’d rather see Anthony called up over Sogard…

 

 

 

[illinoisredsox]

50 minutes ago, notin said:

Do teams actually make (or not make) moves based on a refusal to admit they were wrong? Somehow I think they’re is usually more logic than just obstinance.  The logic might not be right or might not work, but that Durant mean it never existed…

Most teams? No.

These guys?  They aren’t big on management accountability.

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Is Cora also to blame for Rafaela's recent red hot streak?

1300 OPS the last 7 games thanks to good ole' Pat Fatse!

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, notin said:

Toro/Gonzalez - 1b

Story - 2b

Rafaela - SS

Mayer - 3b

Anthony  - LF

Duran - CF

Abreu/Refsnyder - RF

 

I dont like it, but I’d rather see Anthony called up over Sogard…

Whatever it takes to get Anthony here, I'm fine with TBH.

[notin]

2 minutes ago, TedYazPapiMookie said:

The only wrong guy is Cora.  Campbell could have been just fine, and he EARNED everything he's received unlike Mayer.  The right guy came up to play 2B.  Instead, while red hot the idiot manager started playing him in the outfield and then told him he needed to practice at 1B.  Think about the kid.  Should he have to shoulder all the BS from Cora?  NO.  Cora is a moron.  The kid might still be hitting over .300 if he hadn't been sent to 2 outfield positions and to practice 1B.  We'll never know now.  It was completely unfair of Cora to do it.  

Now we have people saying stupid things like they picked the wrong guy.  He was absolutely the right guy.  He simply got placed with an idiot manager and he's not one of the chosen players like Mayer and Anthony.  When Anthony gets suggested for 1B people are up in arms but when Campbell gets suggested for 2B, CF, RF and then 1B .... no problem.  The bias that exists in the organization and the fan base is pathetic.  Start treating the players as equal human beings.  Let the opportunities be based on performance and let the playing field be level between the players so ONE GUY doesn't have to burden all the idiot moves by the manager.

I’m not a huge fan of Cora’s constant re-arrangements, but I think it’s a leap to assume playing a couple games at a new position had such a drastic effect on Campbell, especially since he’s been bounced around before…

[notin]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

Whatever it takes to get Anthony here, I'm fine with TBH.

All it takes is an Uber