Kristian Campbell: Baseball America’s 2024 Minor League Player Of The Year
Image credit: 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.
Read More About 2024 Award Winners
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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 tougher. He credited his success to the amount of pitches he saw throughout the season, whether in games or by using technology such as the Trajekt pitching machines available at the Red Sox’s spring training facility in Fort Myers, Fla., and also at Boston’s Fenway Park and Worcester’s Polar Park.
“Seeing pitches at each level, you get better and better throughout the season,” Campbell said. “The competition is tougher. It’s not technically getting easier, though it can look like it does at times. It’s really about trying to stay as consistent as possible.”
Campbell certainly stayed consistent. He produced a 173 wRC+ for High-A Greenville, a 197 for Double-A Portland and then a 139 for Worcester. With each passing week, Campbell cemented himself further as a top prospect in the game and a significant piece of the puzzle for Boston’s future core.
Drafted as a shortstop, Campbell appeared most often at second base this year, followed by shortstop and center field. He appears most comfortable at second.
Red Sox farm director Brian Abraham lauded Campbell’s work ethic and ability to translate coaching into results.
“He’s the kind of guy who bought into the programming, bought into what he felt like he needed to improve and what we provided for him in terms of training and focus,” Abraham said. “He added about 15 to 20 pounds of muscle and strength. When we talk about impacting the baseball, that’s a big thing.”
Abraham was also impressed by Campbell’s willingness to challenge himself—even if he failed or diverted from training methods he learned in the past—in order to seek better results.
Campbell stands as the poster child for the quality of the Red Sox’s improved hitting development program and the organization’s ability to improve players under their tutelage.
Campbell’s ascension to one of the top prospects in the sport turned a big three at the top of the Boston system of Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kyle Teel into a big four.
Now, Campbell has an opportunity to join the Red Sox early in 2025 and hold down the starting second base job for years to come.
