What Red Sox, Alex Cora want to see out of Kristian Campbell in Triple-A before getting called up again
"This is not about going down there and hitting .500, to be honest. He might be hitting .200 and he’s doing the things that we’re asking him to do."
Kristian Campbell’s promising start to his MLB career turned into prolonged struggles at the plate and on the field over the last couple of months, prompting the Red Sox to demote him to Triple-A on Thursday.
But the Red Sox remain optimistic that Campbell, who entered the season as one of the top prospects in baseball, will have a successful MLB career. For now, though, Alex Cora and the team want to see him work on his game away from the bright lights of the majors.
“I think it’s a good time for him to reset, to be honest with you,” Cora told reporters. “Go down there and work on a few things that we have seen the last few weeks, that we’re not doing here. Just to do that [in a less pressured] environment and work on those — not only offensively, but defensively, too. It’s a good time for that.”
By the end of April, it appeared that the Red Sox’ bet to make Kristian Campbell their starting second baseman to open the season paid off. He was hitting .301 with a .902 OPS, four homers, and 12 RBIs when the first month of the season concluded, winning AL Rookie of the Month for March/April. The Red Sox were also able to get Campbell to agree to an eight-year, $60 million extension in the opening week of the season, building some hype around his longterm standing with the team.
However, the positive buzz surrounding Campbell dissipated in May. He hit .134 with a .355 OPS, a home run, and four RBIs in 22 games that month. His numbers at the plate slightly improved in June, but were still well below league average (.205 batting average, .658 OPS, one home run, five RBIs in 16 games).
Campbell’s struggles haven’t been exclusive to the plate, either. His seven errors are a team high, while his minus-eight Outs Above Average is tied for the second-worst in all of baseball.
The Red Sox moved Campbell around a bit defensively during his struggles in May and June. He got some action in left and center field in recent weeks. He even took some time to practice playing first base, and he told reporters that learning to play the position will be a part of his focus during his time with Triple-A Worcester.
Cora appreciates Campbell’s willingness to learn a new position, but he’s more focused on seeing the 22-year-old regain confidence in his swing.
“To be able to play the position, that will be important,” Cora said. “Obviously, with time, we’re going to have to make some decisions with the roster. Him playing first base is going to help us. The fact that he’s going to be able to play it is great.
“But I think the offensive part is the one that’s important for us. This is not about going down there and hitting .500, to be honest. He might be hitting .200 and he’s doing the things that we’re asking him to do, and we can see him trending the right way, then he might be here.”
Red Sox director of hitting Jason Ochart shared with The Boston Globe‘s Alex Speier what he thinks Campbell’s problem his been as of late at the plate, and what the plan is to fix it.
“A big part of his training will be focused on being on time,” Ochart said. “His point of contact has dropped back, and it’s just hard to be successful when you’re hitting the ball really deep.”
To Ochart’s point, Campbell’s strikeout percentage (28.6 percent) is the 17th-worst in baseball since the start of May.
As Campbell has continued to struggle, Cora said that he was “probably disappointed” by the news, but likely understood “what was going on and where he was.”
“You could tell he was a little bit frustrated,” Cora said. “You could see it with his body language. He never stopped playing hard. But you could tell that he was a little bit down.”
Now, Cora and the Red Sox hope that Campbell can regain that confidence as he takes a step away from the everyday pressure of having to perform in the big leagues.
“He’s not the first one that has been optioned in his career,” Cora said. “There’s been a lot of good players that made the team out of spring training, they got sent down and then they come back and did their job. We expect him to work as hard as possible; he was doing that here.
“But I think [detaching] him from the third deck and the lights of the big leagues and go down there and work on a few things that we truly believe is going to make him better.”
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