Kristian Campbell's storyline sure has evolved since this time last year.
Instead of being the leader in the clubhouse to take the starting second-base job, Campbell is exclusively seeing playing time in the outfield after his rocky rookie season. That might be a better home for him long-term, but it leaves him little opportunity to crack the big-league roster on a team with four excellent outfielders.
However, manager Alex Cora recently offered a helpful reminder of what really matters for players to earn their stripes in the majors: pure offensive production. Campbell's position matters, of course, but if he becomes the impact bat the Red Sox envisioned when they gave him a $60 million extension last year, things will work themselves out.
"You can see a big difference,” Cora said of Campbell's physicality this year, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. “He knows how to look at his schedule and he knows what he needs to do to get back to the big leagues, which is the most important thing."
“If we get this (the offense) back, we can find at-bats.”
In 67 major league games last season, Campbell wound up with a .223/.319/.345 slash line, six home runs, and negative-1.0 bWAR, which had a lot to do with his league-worst defense at second base.
Campbell is young and athletic, so eventually, he should be able to hold his own as a defender, even if it's only in the outfield. It's all about the offensive adjustments he made this winter, and after some positive returns in the first couple of spring training games, he'll need to keep his foot on the gas pedal.