WORCESTER — As Kristian Campbell comes into Polar Park each day, the Worcester Red Sox player takes a unique route to the home clubhouse. 

Campbell enters through the parking lot located beyond the left-field wall, strolls through the blue seats in the stands, touches the warning track dirt for a few steps before walking down the stairs of the home dugout. It’s not a track many (if any) players take when arriving at the ballpark.  

But like his journey inside the Red Sox organization the past two years, Campbell’s taken the path less traveled. From High A to Triple A in 2024, to the big leagues and back to the minors this year, it’s been an interesting course for Campbell.  

“Everybody has their own journey or path, their own years,” Campbell told the T&G Thursday. “It helps if you really think about focusing on yourself because you can’t really focus on what somebody else has going on because it’s not the same way (how) we all got to this point. It’s different.”

Campbell later added: “There’s so many different paths to be successful in this game that you can’t really get caught up in everything that’s going on around you. You just gotta be happy with where you’re at.” 

Jump start 

While sitting inside the WooSox dugout Thursday afternoon, and asked to reminisce about his past 18 months, Campbell smiled when dating back to his college days at Georgia Tech. 

After hitting a total of four home runs in two seasons (2022-23) with the Yellow Jackets, Campbell made it a goal of his to hit between 5-10 homers in his first full season in professional baseball last year. 

Campbell connected for 11 by the midway point of 2024. 

“Let’s just keep going and see what happens,” Campbell recalled. 

Evoking comparisons to former MLB slugger Barry Bonds, Campbell concluded 2024 with 20 HR, 24 stolen bases, 77 RBIs and a .330 average (.997 OPS) across three levels of the minor leagues.  

The Tennessee native was named Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year and USA Today Sports Minor League Player of the Year. 

“He didn’t struggle much in the minor leagues,” WooSox manager Chad Tracy said earlier this season. “He was jumping across levels like lilypads.” 

Red Sox rookie rollercoaster 

This spring, Campbell impressed the Boston brass enough to garner a spot on the Red Sox’ Opening Day roster and — shortly after — inked an eight-year, $60 million contract extension. 

“It definitely meant a lot,” said Campbell of signing the contract and getting the chance to compete against players he grew up watching. “It was the first time, I guess, that playing hard and just playing for the love of the game actually, literally, paid off.” 

Boston saw dividends right away from the Campbell call up and contract extension. The 23-year-old, with a violent and unorthodox swing, earned American League Rookie of the Month honors for April after batting .301 with 4 home runs, 12 RBIs and a .902 OPS through his first 29 big-league games.   

“The guy went up there and stood out for a period of time,” Tracy said.   

“I had a really good first month in Major League Baseball,” Campbell said. 

But then the struggles started for the Red Sox rookie — at the plate (where he hit in every spot except leadoff and No. 2) and in the field (2B, CF, LF and DH). Starting on May 1, Campbell went into a prolonged slump in which he hit .159 with 2 homers, 9 RBIs and a .465 OPS across a 38-game stretch.  

On June 20, Campbell was demoted to Triple-A Worcester. It took some time for Campbell to course correct into the player who shot up from High-A Greenville to Boston in a span of a year.   

“For Kristian, he experienced some really high highs and some probably really low lows,” Red Sox senior director of player development Brian Abraham said. “And I think since he’s been down in Triple A, he’s been able to take a step back and focus on a lot of areas that allowed him to have success that he was able to last year and at the start of this season.  

“It probably hasn’t happened maybe as quickly as he would have liked or we would have liked, but there’s been steady progress.”  

Focusing on his own path 

During his extended stay in AAA the past three months, Campbell has found himself on the emotional rollercoaster of being a one-time big leaguer now stuck in the minors — at least for the time being. 

As of late, Campbell has found his stroke at the plate while playing a plethora of positions with Worcester — mainly outfield the past two weeks, with first base and second base sprinkled in.

Across 71 games with the WooSox, Campbell is hitting .274 with 8 HR and 36 RBIs. From July 19 to Aug. 7, he recorded a 15-game hitting streak, which is the longest on the team this season and the second longest in WooSox club history.

“(It’s been) a year for development, a year for him to better understand who he is as a player, what skills he has, what skills he needs to continue to improve upon,” Abraham said. “I think he’s really set himself up for, potentially, whether it be a Boston call up this year or a strong offseason, in preparation for spring training next year.” 

With a path less traveled this year, Campbell has done his best to keep pushing forward. 

From being Boston’s Opening Day starter at second base, to Worcester’s starting outfielder in the final week of the AAA season, it’s been a whirlwind for the former crown jewel of the Red Sox farm system.

“It’s good to just focus on your own path and try to develop as best as you can,” Campbell said. “So, if you have the opportunity to go up and contribute, you can help the team wherever you can. … 

“You just gotta be happy with where you’re at and know that you made it to the big leagues and that you’re a big-league player and that you belong there and that you’re gonna figure it out,” he added. “Whenever the time is right and whenever it clicks for you, it’s gonna click. I think that’s the most important thing.” 

So, Kristian Campbell trudges forward. He hopes the path leads to Boston, again, soon.  

—Contact Tommy Cassell at tcassell@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tommycassell44.