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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.
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