Red Sox Star With 'Three Full-Time Jobs' Falls Victim To Alex Cora Mistake

Boston Red Sox management hasn’t put Kristian Campbell in a position to succeed.

After starting the season (and his career) red-hot at the plate, Campbell has regressed, but it’s not entirely his fault, nor can it be completely attributed to Major League pitchers adjusting to Campbell.

As ESPN’s Buster Olney and Paul Hembekides pointed out on Wednesday night during Baseball Tonight, Campbell is a victim of Red Sox manager Alex Cora putting way too much on the rookie’s plate defensively.

Campbell’s willingness to learn multiple positions he’s never played before on the fly signals an ugly double standard in Boston’s clubhouse when juxtaposed against Rafael Devers’ aversion to doing the same.

“It doesn't surprise me, by the way, that Kristian Campbell (is struggling),” Olney said.

“It's interesting, 'cause Devers won't take ground balls at first base. He won't consider making the adjustment, and here you have Kristian Campbell, who's considered to be a high-end prospect, who they were teaching second base (to) at the beginning of spring training, and now they're teaching him first base before games.”

“He's doing that, and he's struggling at the plate. Is anybody surprised that he looks a little overwhelmed?”

Hembekides added to Olney’s comments.

“That's a great point because he was absolutely mashing the ball through the month of April,” Hembekides replied.

“The reason why he was not a top prospect originally was because the swing has a lot of moving parts and is very atypical, very irregular.”

“But you can't possibly convince me that his struggles in May, which are very pronounced, are exclusively the league adjusting to him. He has three full-time jobs right now!”

“What he needs to be focusing ... on is playing one position. He's a young player. Playing one position and figuring out his at-bats, given the way that the league is attacking him (is what he should focus on).”

“He has too much on his plate right now, and so in the end, he winds up doing nothing as well as he possibly can … a player of that age just does not have that kind of bandwidth.”

“I can definitely sympathize with Kristian Campbell, who's doing the best he can for the team, but right now, his at-bats are really struggling as a direct result of all those issues.”

Campbell slashed .287/.388/.460 in April with 25 hits, three home runs, 10 RBIs, and 14 runs scored.

The month of May has been less kind to Campbell: .120/.175/.160.

The Red Sox have a ton of issues right now, and Cora’s mishandling of Campbell is one of the most disappointing.