Kristian Campbell is in the midst of an 11-game hitting streak at Triple-A Worcester. He has 13 hits, including two homers, in his past seven games.
The Red Sox demoted the 23-year-old to Worcester on June 20 after an extended slump. He won AL Rookie of the Month for March/April, posting a .902 OPS in 29 games, but he then hit .154 (20-for-130) in 39 games from April 30-June 18.
Campbell has spent much of his time in Worcester learning first base.
“There’s still work to do,” manager Alex Cora said before Boston’s game against the Astros on Friday. “He’s still a work in progress. He’s gotten better. The numbers show that. There’s a few things under the hood that we still need to get better at.”
Cora said there are areas, both offensively and defensively, where he must improve.
But Campbell could play a big role down the stretch at first base, a position chief baseball officer Craig Breslow failed to address at the trade deadline.
Boston entered Friday 20th out of 31 MLB teams in first base OPS (.702). Abraham Toro is playing first and batting cleanup Friday despite just 10 hits in his past 55 at-bats.
Campbell has made 17 starts at first base with Worcester. It’s a position he began learning after Triston Casas suffered a season-ending ruptured patellar tendon in early May.
“I’ve been working at first base mainly, and I’m just working on footwork around the base and working on my defense there,” Campbell said Tuesday. “It’s been going good. I feel pretty comfortable over there. I feel like I’ve been doing pretty good over there.”
