What Red Sox Champion Told Kristian Campbell After Inking Contract Extension

The contract extension Kristian Campbell signed with the Boston Red Sox last week falls into the team-friendly category.

The 22-year-old infielder/outfielder passed up the possibility of a big payday in the future for current financial security. Campbell signed an eight-year, $60 million deal, which includes two team options that could pay him around $100 million over 10 years.

And 2013 Red Sox World Series champion and NESN analyst Will Middlebrooks explained on the most recent episode of “Sox Talk with Will Middlebrooks” that he can see why Campbell put pen to paper in the infancy of his MLB career.

“I think it’s a very good deal for both sides,” Middlebrooks said. “I had this talk with Kristian, too, after it happened. I’m like, ‘I don’t blame you for taking it.’ That is still life-changing money. In the grand scheme of things, how many guys get a chance to make $60 million? Very small amount. We all think about the (Juan) Sotos and the (Shohei) Ohtanis and the (Max) Scherzers and the (Justin) Verlanders. That’s such a small percentage of baseball players. Most guys make league minimum for a year or two and they never play again.”

Campbell went on a meteoric rise through Boston’s farm system after the Red Sox drafted him in the fourth round out of Georgia Tech in 2023. He was named Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year in 2024 and came into this season as the sixth-best prospect in all of baseball according to MLB Pipeline.

Campbell has already shown his promise over the first 12 games in the big leagues this season. He is batting .341 with two home runs, five RBIs and a stolen base.

And if Campbell reaches his potential, he could very well outperform his contract.

“With the metrics and the analytics now with scouting and how to grade players, the crystal ball is a little more clear on what you think guys can be just based off of their attributes, the way they swing the bat, their movements of their body, you can compare them to other people,” Middlebrooks said. “You get to know the person, too, which is a big part of when you sign a guy of how hard they work. He’s a really humble kid, who is a very fast learner. He just checks all the boxes. If this ends up being a 10-year, $100 million deal, you got to feel like Kristian Campbell might be mad at his agents one day.”