Is Kristian Campbell Legit?

C/O to sports.yahoo.com

As the season unfolds for the Boston Red Sox, one of the biggest surprises has been the amount of success 22-year-old rookie Second Baseman Kristian Campbell has had.

In his first six games, Campbell is hitting an impressive .417 with two home runs and four RBI with a whopping 1.333 OPS (On-base Percentage + Slugging Percentage). Not only that, but Campbell secured a long-term contract after just his fifth game in the big leagues, signing an 8-year, $60 million contract.

Campbell will get a $2 million signing bonus, which is half payable within 60 days of the contract’s approval by Major League Baseball. The other half would be paid on January 15th of next year. He also receives salaries of $1 million this year, $2 million in 2026, $3 million in 2027, $4 million in 2028, $6 million in 2029, $9 million in 2030, $13 million in 2031 and $16 million in 2032.

The deal is extremely team-friendly, as it includes a $19 million team option for 2033 with a $4 million buyout fee and a $21 million team option for 2034, but with no buyout fee.

To sweeten the deal for Kristian, his salary between the 2031-34 seasons can increase based on whether or not he hits certain performance goals in the season before ($200,000 for making the All-Star team, $2 million for winning an MVP award, $1 million for finishing second or third in the voting, $500,000 for fourth or fifth, and $250,000 for sixth through 10th).

Now, shifting gears back to his play, I mean, there is not much more you can ask for in terms of a season start. After a tough Spring Training and a fight with his fellow prospect Marcelo Mayer, fans were a little surprised that he won the Second Base job so easily. However, he silenced all doubters immediately with the start he is having.

Now, with his hot start, it begs the question of whether it is enough to buy into Campbell. For starters, Boston clearly has. Put simply, if the Red Sox did not truly believe that Campbell was going to be a huge part of their future, they would not have extended him at all, but rather just kept him under the team control he was already in for at least a few years. Yet, they extended him less than a week after his debut.

From the naked eye, Campbell already has elite bat speed. He has some of the quickest hands I have seen out of a Red Sox prospect, probably since Mookie Betts. His ability to hit balls thrown on the inside of the plate and turn on them with power is an extremely promising sign. Looking at his stats, Campbell’s average bat speed of 74.6 mph is in the 86th percentile in the MLB. This means he is currently swinging the bat faster than nearly 90% of all other batters in baseball.

The other aspect of his game that has impressed me thus far is that he doesn't chase. Campbell's chase rate (number of balls swung at that were out of the strike zone divided by total pitches seen) of 23% is well below the league average of 29%. This is something that hitters spend years developing, so the fact Campbell is already showing great plate discipline makes his potential that much more exciting.

I do think it is a little early to completely buy-in; however, Kristian Campbell is certainly on the right track. He is not only hitting, but hitting the ball hard, and has put together a number of great at-bats to start the year. That, along with his bat speed and plate discipline, is a dangerous combo for opposing pitchers. Though the sample size is small, if Campbell can keep this level, or even close to this level, up for the coming months, he could become one of the brightest stars baseball has to offer.

Campbell will get another chance to shine in the Red Sox home opener on Friday, April 4 against the St. Louis Cardinals.