It was already a difficult enough stretch for Red Sox rookie Kristian Campbell, who was demoted back to Triple-A Worcester after the team wrapped up the Mariners series to start the week. After a hot start, there was no denying that Campbell was in a massive funk for the past seven weeks, during which he had batted .154.
It was not a case of bad luck, either. Campbell has not been hitting with authority, as he has gone 20-for-130, with only four of those 20 hits going for extra bases. Campbell struck out 42 times in those 130 at-bats.
It was a tough decision to send the winner of the American League’s Rookie of the Month for April back down to Triple-A. But, manager Alex Cora explained, via MassLive:
“I think it’s a good time for him to re-set, to be honest with you. 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 to that (less pressurized) environment and work on those — not only offensively, but defensively, too. It’s a good time for that.”
Kristian Campbell on Devers Narrative: ‘False’
Amid all of that, Campbell was also dragged into the hubbub surrounding the Red Sox’s spectacular trade of star slugger Rafael Devers. Campbell had very little to do with the deal, of course, except that one report suggested that Devers was not happy with Campbell for his willingness to play first base last month after Devers had declined to do so.
The eager selflessness of the rookie made the sullen selfishness of the star look all the worse.
But the notion that there was bad blood between Devers and Campbell over the whole thing was labeled “false,” by Campbell himself.
“That was false,” Campbell said. “First off, Raffy never came to me. I never had a problem with it. We were always cool. He’s an extremely great player, extremely great person. He’s a very kind person and a good teammate.
“Second, I would say I’ve never went to the Red Sox to play first base. They came to me and asked me if could play first base, because we didn’t have one at the time, that’s when Casas went down. I said if it would make the team better, I’ll be willing to play that position.”
Red Sox Need a Reset
Of course, Campbell has enough to worry about just getting himself back to the bigs. It is possible that having Campbell play second base–which he had not done since college–then getting him working out at first base last month contributed to his struggles. The Red Sox certainly asked a lot of the rookie.
Boston needs him to get his swing back in order. This is a guy they paid an eight-year, $60 million contract this spring, after all. A stint back in the minors need not be the worst thing for him.
“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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