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Red Sox reportedly promote breakout prospect dubbed ‘Barry Bonds’ to Triple-A Worcester
Kristian Campbell batted .362 over 56 games with Double-A Portland.
The “Big Three” in Worcester is already turning into the “Big Four”.
Less than a week after the Red Sox called up their top prospects in Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, and Kyle Teel to Triple-A Worcester, Boston is reportedly bringing up its top breakout prospect to join them at Polar Park.
According to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, the Red Sox have promoted infielder/outfielder Kristian Campbell to Worcester — a fitting result after the 22-year-old slugger teed off against pitching in Double-A Portland.
“We call him Barry Bonds just because of how good of a hitter he is,” Anthony said of Campbell last week. “He’s a great player. He’s a freak athlete.
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“Plays the game the right way and he’s a great person on and off the field. And it’s rare that you can get a guy like that who can play so many different premium positions and play at the level that he plays at while putting up the numbers that he has put up.”
Campbell, who Boston drafted out of Georgia Tech in the fourth round of the 2023 First-Year Player Draft, has gone from an intriguing, light-hitting prospect to a force at the plate.
MLB Pipeline’s latest list of the top 100 prospects in baseball has Campbell ranked 80th overall — while ESPN’s latest prospect list tabbed him as the 54th-ranked prospect in the game today.
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After slashing .306/.418/.558 with 13 doubles, eight home runs, and 25 RBI over 40 games in Greenville, Campbell earned a promotion to Portland on June 4.
In 56 games with Portland, Campbell batted .362 with eight home runs, 28 total extra-base hits, and 35 RBI — walking 35 times and striking out 38 times over 255 total plate appearances.
While the Red Sox aren’t expecting any of their top prospects to break through and contribute at the big-league level in 2024, it’s a good sign for next season that several blue-chip youngsters are on the cusp of a call-up to Fenway Park next spring.
“A credit to him he came in, and it was kind of a new style of hitting for what he came from at Georgia Tech, I think, and he was willing to learn and he grinded all offseason,” Anthony said of Campbell. “He was there every day in Florida when we were there, every day at spring training. He’s constantly grinding.”
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