The Boston Red Sox drafted Kristian Campbell with the team’s fourth-round pick in the 2023 MLB draft. In his lone season in the minor leagues, he rose from High-A to Triple-A and hit .330 while showing some pop in his bat with 20 home runs.
He also showed his speed on the basepaths with 24 steals. Campbell's production led to him being named the MLB Pipeline Hitting Prospect of the Year and MiLB Breakout Player of the Year. After excelling last season, in his first year of professional baseball, he opened the season as the Red Sox starting second baseman.
Through the Red Sox's first eleven games, Campbell has proved he belongs at the major league level. In 33 at-bats, Campbell has 12 hits with two home runs, amounting to a .364 batting average.
So far this season, Campbell has been slotted sixth in the team’s lineup behind All-Star shortstop Trevor Story. However, if manager Alex Cora wants to get more versatility at the top of the team’s lineup, he could experiment with putting Campbell at the second spot.
With Kristian’s right-handed bat in the two spot, the team’s top-six hitters would read as follows:
- Jarren Duran (Left)
- Kristian Campbell (Right)
- Rafael Devers (Left)
- Alex Bregman (Right)
- Tristan Casas (Left)
- Trevor Story (Right)
This starting six of the batting order would give Cora the luxury of alternating left-handed and right-handed bats. Additionally, this lineup would potentially put more runners on base for the sluggers in the middle of the team’s order.
Even though the Red Sox have won five of their last six games, Cora should look to experiment with his lineup, and putting the team’s best player so far this season at the top of his batting order would be a great place to start getting the offense back on track.