When Boston Red Sox fans hear the words "top prospects," three players in the system quickly come to mind.
Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kyle Teel have received the top prospect treatment in their short tenures in the Red Sox organization. Boston fans anxiously await their big league debuts and they're regarded as "untouchable" in trade discussions.
This season, Kristian Campbell joined the Sox's "Big Three" in the top prospect conversation. Campbell's insane offensive season and meteoric rise earned him an Eastern League All-Star title alongside Mayer, Anthony and Teel, but he claimed league MVP all for himself.
The title is definitely deserved. Campbell slashed .330/.439/.558 with a .997 OPS over 115 games across three levels of the minor leagues. He batted .362/.463/.582 with a 1.045 OPS with Double-A Portland, the team for which he was awarded MVP. He shot up Baseball America's top 100 prospect list to No. 24 in the game — he was not featured in the top 100 at the beginning of the season. He also earned Keith Law's Prospect of the Year title from The Athletic.
Kristian Campbell should join Red Sox's trio of 'untouchable' prospects this offseason after Eastern League All-Star and MVP honors
Kristian Campbell named Eastern League MVP!
— Portland Sea Dogs (@PortlandSeaDogs) September 24, 2024
Campbell is just the second Sea Dogs player to earn the honor in franchise history joining Kevin Millar in 1997.https://t.co/ECUqAnS0gC pic.twitter.com/cZsGSr12dH
Campbell's breakout season will likely make him a much more frequent subject of any trade discussions the Red Sox get into this offseason. But the young infielder has proven himself worthy of the same top prospect treatment Mayer, Anthony and Teel have received. He should not be tradable this winter.
Boston clearly has big-league aspirations for Campbell. He suffered a lat strain in the second-to-last week of the Triple-A season and the Red Sox organization decided to shut him down for the year to ensure he goes through the offseason and spring training healthy.
Campbell is defensively flexible — he split time between left field, right field, third base, shortstop and second base this season, with most of his reps coming in the middle infield. Nearly a dozen different Red Sox have appeared at second base this year, and Campbell could help bring long-missing stability to Boston's infield alignment. His righty bat could also bring more versatility and thump to the Sox's batting order.
Campbell has played his way into "untouchable" status. Hopefully, the Red Sox organization holds onto him to see what he's capable of in the big leagues.