Kristian Campbell's development is necessary to solve Red Sox's second base woes

The Boston Red Sox made a difficult decision this month when they sent down struggling rookie sensation Kristian Campbell, but it's the right move for his long-term development.

At least, the Red Sox hope it's the right move, as they continue to fight against a half-decade long trend of black holes at second base.

You aren't reading that list in the above Tweet wrong, by the way. Boston's leaders at games played at second base since Dustin Pedroia played his last game with the team are Christian Arroyo and Enmanuel Valdez.

Arroyo hasn't been with the team since 2023, while Valdez drew a total of 340 at-bats across his two seasons in Beantown. They're the only players with more than 100 games logged at the position for the Red Sox since 2019, and yet neither played even a full season's worth of games (162) at the position. There are as many catchers on that list as players with triple-digit games at the position for the Sox.

Kristian Campbell is Red Sox's best hope to fill second base void

Quality second base play has simply become a lost art in Boston since Pedroia made his final appearance in mid-April of 2019. The team thought it would be getting an answer in Trevor Story when they signed him to pair up with shortstop Xander Bogaerts, but that middle infield lasted all of one season before Story moved over to short as Bogaerts departed for a Brink's truck in San Diego.

And that's why Campbell's development, both offensively and defensively, is so crucial to this team. Sure, they could re-sign Alex Bregman to a long-term deal, keep Story at shortstop as a lost cause and move Marcelo Mayer over to second base (and possibly move Campbell over to first base), but the best version of the future Red Sox will have a double play tandem of Mayer at short and Campbell at second.

In order to make that a reality, Campbell will need to drastically improve upon a team-worst -8 Outs Above Average (and a comically bad -14 DRS), all of which he accrued in his roughly 470 innings at second base. He's never been considered a sterling defender, but he'll need to make a seismic jump from where he is now to be even "passable".

Yes, he also needs to get better with his bat after posting a -8 wRC+ in May and slashing .205/.340/.318 in 44 at-bats this month, but his hitting profile was never the primary question. With more reps against MLB pitchers, the 22-year-old should be able to turn the ship around at the plate (though, his 43% strikeout rate since being demoted to Triple-A is rather concerning).

Even more than himself, though, Campbell is fighting against years of recent history. Second base has been a nothing-burger for the Red Sox since arguably the best second baseman in franchise history retired.

It may take some time, but Campbell has the potential to be the Red Sox's answer on the right side of the infield. Or, at least, they certainly need him to be.