A lot of attention is being paid to the Boston Red Sox’s offseason work, and reasonably so. However, several of their players are already preparing for the 2026 campaign, and that includes star prospect Kristian Campbell, who is playing winter ball in Puerto Rico for Criollos de Caguas in the hometown of his manager, Alex Cora.
The 2025 campaign was a bit of a roller coaster ride for Campbell. After initially cracking the major league roster, Campbell got off to a blistering start. Once opposing pitchers picked up on his tendencies, though, Campbell became ice-cold, and he was demoted back to Triple-A for the rest of the season in June.
The focus for Campbell since his demotion has involved making adjustments at the plate in an effort to improve his play. Things haven’t gone all that great for him so far in Puerto Rico, as he’s hitting just .214 in eight games, but according to Cora, Campbell’s stats don’t matter, so long as he’s working with the coaching staff to improve his game.
“Offensively, you can see the adjustments already, although, it’s different competition,” Cora said, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. “I know that. It’s tough … I would love for him to hit .400, but if he struggles, it really doesn’t matter. It’s a matter of executing the adjustments he made the last month-and-a-half and we’ll see.”
After throwing Campbell into the fire early last season, the Sox are scaling things back with him in an effort to maximize his potential. At just 23 years old, Campbell still has time to figure things out, but he’s going to have to produce at a higher level when he returns to the majors.
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When that will happen, though, remains to be seen. Boston seems to want to use Campbell as an outfielder moving forward, but they already have a logjam of players at that spot. For now, all Campbell can do is work on becoming better at the plate, as that will increase the likelihood of him forcing the Red Sox to find a way to get him back in the majors in 2026.
Featured image via Ashley Green/Imagn Images
