Never Die Red Sox Promote Young ‘Barry Bonds’ to Triple-A

Sunday night the Red Sox organization promoted Kristian Campbell to Triple-A Worcester. A fourth-round pick for Boston in the 2023 draft he is currently ranking #98 on Baseball’s Top 100 List. The Big 3: Roman Anthony, Kyle Teel, and Marcelo Mayer outperforming their peers in Worcester like to refer to this young power hitter as “Barry Bonds.” The Red Sox farm system seems to have made some smart decisions for the future of Boston.

Roman Anthony, Kyle Teel, and Marcelo Mayer make up the Big 3 in the Red Sox Triple-A farm system. The farm system itself allows MLB teams to grow their younger players’ talent until those players are ready to play with the big boys. Let’s recap what we know about the Big 3 and why this promotion significantly changes things for the Red Sox.

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Red Sox Turns Big 3 To Big 4

Roman Anthony, an outfielder, was considered one of the top prospects in 2022 and selected by Boston 79th overall. Signing on for a one-year contract at $2.5 million, Anthony has continued to perform since being welcomed to the team. In 2023 he was able to land acknowledgment as the Red Sox minor league hitter of the year. Since then he started this season with Double-A Portland Sea Dogs and was ranked as the number two prospect in the minors by Baseball America, making his way up in August to Triple-A.

Kyle Teel has played all over the infield landing at catcher for the Red Sox. He was a first-round pick in 2023 as the 14th overall pick of the draft. One-year contract of reportedly $4 million, Teel started this season also on the Double-A Sea Dogs, and as for prospect ranking, he stands at number three according to Baseball America. This allowed him to be promoted to Triple-A in August and left the Sea Dogs with a .298 batting average.

Marcelo Mayer the first of the Big 3 to get drafted in 2021, once named Mr. Baseball California State Player of the Year, was the Red Sox’s fourth pick. Remarkably, it was the Red Sox’s highest draft pick in over 50 years, they signed him on a one-year contract for $6.6 million. Early 2023, he stood 10th in the ranking of prospects by Baseball America. Making him the youngest promoted to Double-A since 2009, Mayer went on to play for the Sea Dogs finishing his tenure with a .307 batting average and promoted to Triple-A in August.

Just for math purposes, the Red Sox are out $10 million with these youngsters, which is essentially a chump change to any MLB team but still a large investment, and then here comes stunner Kristian Campbell.

Campbell as the Big 3 refers to him because of how he handles incoming pitches, ‘Barry Bonds’ is eager to show off his talents. He was drafted fourth round to the Red Sox but since has inflicted pain on the pitchers he faces so much so that he notably is considered a first-round talent. He is leaving the Sea Dogs with under 15% strike-out percentage and over 13% in walk percentage. He although may turn out to be the biggest ROI for the Red Sox considering his 1 year contract was pennies comparatively speaking of his Big 3 a whopping $492,700.

Do The Red Sox Have The Next Barry Bonds?

Triple-A Worcester Red Sox are heating things up with these four young studs. All of these players have had time in the Double-A clubhouse together and as they get their rise up in the majors, it feels like a refreshing mix of eagerness, young talent, and outstanding potential.

The promotion of Campbell was quicker than the organization’s standards. The Red Sox gave Campbell feedback at the start of the year about how contact with the ball was great, but what is better is contact and power. Contact + Power = Reliability in the lineup which is what the Red Sox are after in the long term. Campbell keeps rising in the rankings across the prospect market and continues to be known as a contact hitter.

The 22-year-old shortstop/center fielder was newly promoted to Triple-A and has a lot to learn as far as being a baseball player. The Big 4 overall is still in its infancy stages according to the majors. They still need to spend time on how to be a good base runner, how to be a great teammate, how to coexist in a world full of potential talent, and how to make themselves stand out without lowering their integrity. The fact that all four of these young men are now together in Worcester could turn into many well-rounded options for the Boston Red Sox. When elite potential gets together with other elite potential they all raise the bar.

Developing Champions Takes Time

The Big 4 all force each other to do better, they are changing the expectations each day and paving their way to Fenway Park. It takes time to develop talent and these men are going out each day to make themselves better, but there is a lot to cover.

With legends like Jason Varitek, Tim Wakefield, and David Ortiz to pull from, these four prospects should be able to see inherently the integrity these players had. These Boston icons became successful by being good players but great teammates and great men. The Boston Red Sox have a few things right and one is their contributions to the community via the Jimmy Fund. The Big 4 not only needs to take their fundamental development seriously but also what type of man they want to be as a member of the MLB. One that is based on growth, knowledge, great responsibility, and personal experience.

The promotion of Kristian Campbell, turning the Big 3 into the Big 4, is one of hope, the new flux of talent the Red Sox have has the potential to land them in the World Series next year. With the Big 4 being groomed for something great, as for Red Sox fans, we sit back and wait.

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This article was written by C. Januszewski