ARLINGTON, Texas — Paul Toboni can still remember the moment he and his colleagues in the Red Sox front office realized they had something special on their hands in Kristian Campbell.

“Honestly it was probably in the offseason heading into spring training,” the Red Sox assistant general manager said.

This year?

“No, last year.”

At the time Campbell was only about six months removed from being selected in the fourth-round of the 2023 MLB Draft. Outside of the organization the former Georgia Tech infielder was pretty much a non-entity. He was mostly known for being drafted using the compensatory pick the Red Sox got after losing Xander Bogaerts in free agency, but he wasn’t even regarded by most outlets as one of Boston’s top 30 prospects, much less a blue-chipper destined for the big leagues.

But inside the organization, he was already starting to open eyes.

“Folks were just like ‘the strides that this kid has made in the winter, it’s really been unprecedented’, at least for the staff that’s been here for the last couple of years,” said Toboni, who plays a key role in amateur scouting and has led many of the club’s productive recent drafts. “So there was some buzz around spring training like this guy might be one of our best prospects, which at the time, now it doesn’t seem all that crazy, but at the time it was kind of a crazy statement.”

Red Sox infielder Kristian Campbell. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Campbell quickly validated that sentiment by turning in one of the most prolific seasons by any minor leaguer in recent memory. He rose from High-A to Triple-A and dominated at each stop he played, batting .330 with 20 home runs, 24 stolen bases and a .997 OPS across all levels. He swept the top minor league awards and entered 2025 ranked as the No. 4 prospect in MLB by Baseball America.

Now, barely a year and a half into his professional career, Campbell is officially a major leaguer.

Despite a bumpy spring training and some early growing pains in camp, Campbell made Boston’s Opening Day roster and is expected to be the club’s primary second baseman. The rookie has gotten off to a strong start, going 3 for 7 with a walk in his first two games while playing clean defense at second base, and is expected to see time in the outfield on occasion too.

Speaking to the Herald on the field at Globe Life Field in Texas during the season’s opening weekend, members of the Red Sox front office shared their perspective on Campbell’s remarkable rise.

Craig Breslow did not join the organization as chief baseball officer until a few months after Campbell was drafted, but like Toboni he saw the underlying tools that suggested he could be a star early on.

“I wasn’t here throughout the scouting and draft process, but seeing him early in spring training last year it’s impossible to ignore the combination of the bat-to-ball skills and just how hard he hits the ball,” Breslow said. “Those are two pretty underlying traits that are indicative of success, and he’s got those.”

But Campbell’s success isn’t just built on physical acumen. Eddie Romero, one of Boston’s longtime assistant general managers who has played a key role in finding and developing many of the club’s top homegrown players over the past two decades, said he can remember a moment early on where Campbell set himself apart not during a game, but in the moments leading up to one.

“I know for myself and I’ve told a couple of people this, hearing him early in the season in Greenville, 10 minutes before game time he was in the cage and he was talking to a couple of other players, and just to hear him talk about how he was preparing for that night’s pitcher sounded like a major league advance report in terms of carry on the fastball, the attack angle, how he was going to try to adjust things to that night’s pitcher, and he was not only using it for himself but he was also training a couple of the other guys,” Romero said. “That to me was like, wow, he’s impressively intelligent but also knows what he’s talking about and he’s been able to grasp a lot of concepts at the same time and apply them.”

By the time this spring rolled around Campbell was widely regarded as one of Boston’s “Big Three” prospects, along with fellow standouts Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer. Yet while Campbell was expected to have the best chance of making the team, he notably struggled early in camp, batting 4 for 26 (.154) with a .290 on-base percentage through his first 11 Grapefruit League games.

Given that production and the fact he was mostly starting road games and often in the outfield, it looked as if Campbell was destined to start the season in Triple-A. But while the public-facing numbers weren’t good, Breslow said behind the scenes they were still seeing encouraging signs from the young infielder.

“It’s easy to get caught up in a batting average or a slugging percentage, but beyond that we’re looking for incremental progress every day that lets us know we’re on the right track,” Breslow said. “While it’s not always outwardly apparent I think there were a lot of things going on behind the scenes that lend themselves to having that confidence in him.”

What kind of things? Romero explained further.

“When it came to the consistency in his daily routine, and you know what we liked was the progress that he made throughout the spring, and the quality of the at bats were improving as he got more comfortable,” Romero said. “And it’s tough, your first major league spring training, you don’t have much pro ball experience, so of course there’s going to be an acclimation period there. And as the spring went on we saw him get more and more comfortable, and I think you saw that in the way he was playing.”

Campbell made a strong impression on his teammates as well, including his double play partner Trevor Story. The two first crossed paths last year while Story was rehabbing in Triple-A and built a camaraderie as they worked together in the middle infield throughout the spring.

“He’s a quiet kid but on the field his actions speak loudly,” Story said. “He hits the ball really hard, you can just see he’s a confident player out there, and that’s great, I think that’s what’s stuck out the most.”

The decision wound up going down to the wire, but the Red Sox front office ultimately decided Campbell had earned his spot. Manager Alex Cora informed the rookie he’d made the big league club just before the team broke camp in Fort Myers, a joyful moment not just for Campbell and his family, but for the franchise as a whole.

“It’s amazing. I’m speaking for all of the player development staff when I say this he’s really been a model player, worker and person for us,” Toboni said. “He’s one of the first to show up for the offseason programs and while he’s there he just works his you-know-what off. It’s really gratifying for us to see how gratifying it is for him to take these huge jumps in talent, we go back and look at his Georgia Tech video and he was a completely different player. It seems like that was five years ago but in reality it was a tick over 20 months ago.”

“Kristian has been one of the most dedicated, if not the most dedicated guy when it comes to spending time at the facility and really buying into all the training,” Romero said. “It’s awesome he’s put himself into this position and it’s super exciting.”

Now that he’s arrived, is Campbell ready?

“We don’t know if he’s ready,” Cora said. “But we do believe his athleticism, controlling the strike zone, they’re going to play here.”

“What I think he brings to the offensive and defensive sides of the game, also he can run the bases, right-handed bat who helps balance the lineup out even further, and it’s hard to ignore the trajectory that he was on,” Breslow said. “We feel like while there is still some development, this big league environment is the best one for him right now.”

Middleborough native Sean Newcomb made the Red Sox as a non-roster invitee out of spring training. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Hometown kid makes good

Growing up in Middleborough, Sean Newcomb said he was always that typical Boston kid who’d wear a sweaty Red Sox hat everywhere he went.

Some things never change.

Coming off a difficult two-year stretch in which he battled injury, inconsistent usage and sat out the second half of last season entirely, Newcomb was one of the biggest success stories of Red Sox camp. The left-hander made the big league team as a non-roster invitee and will now have the opportunity to pitch for his hometown club.

“Putting on the ‘B’even in the spring, just kind of putting that hat on and remembering all the days I did growing up,” Newcomb said. “It’s definitely special.”

Newcomb said he found out he’d made the team just before camp broke last weekend. The 31-year-old had previously pitched primarily out of the bullpen during his last stops with the Athletics, Giants and Cubs, but now he will get the opportunity to serve as Boston’s No. 5 starter.

Newcomb ultimately beat out right-handers Quinn Priester, Cooper Criswell and Michael Fulmer for the spot, and he said hearing the news was incredibly gratifying.

“It was cool, obviously I’ve been hoping the whole time, I understand the reality of the situation being a non-roster invite and all that and moves have to kind of follow, but it started to shape up on its own,” Newcomb said. “I started to see the possibility of what was going to happen, so definitely exciting, it’s good to put all of that behind and get to work.”

Newcomb is scheduled to make his Red Sox debut on Monday when he starts the team’s series opener in Baltimore. He will likely make one or two more starts afterwards as well, but with starting pitchers Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito expected to rejoin the rotation by mid-April, his long-term future with the club remains uncertain.

But now in his ninth MLB season, Newcomb says he’s learned not to get caught up in what isn’t set in stone, and he plans to enjoy his Red Sox experience for as long as he can.

“I’ve been around enough to know what the deal is and how things work out, but there’s no need to think more than tomorrow, just one day at a time, just one pitch at a time,” Newcomb said. “That’s my new approach nowadays. I used to try to look into the future more in my younger days and that never leads to good stuff.”

Former St. John’s of Shrewsbury star Sean Burke earned the nod as Opening Day starter for the Chicago White Sox. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

White Sox have local flavor

When the Chicago White Sox come to Fenway Park the weekend of Marathon Monday, fans will get a chance to see a few homegrown arms make their return to Boston.

The White Sox pitching staff is set to feature three pitchers with ties to the Bay State. Sean Burke, a former St. John’s of Shrewsbury standout from Sutton, was the White Sox’s Opening Day starter. Shane Smith, a Danvers native who played at Governor’s Academy in Byfield, is also in Chicago’s rotation, and Mike Vasil, a former BC High great from Wellesley, is on the roster as well.

Burke has enjoyed an impressive rise over the past year. A third-round pick out of the University of Maryland in 2021, Burke didn’t make his MLB debut until last September but pitched well upon his arrival, posting a 1.42 ERA over 19 innings in four starts. He picked up the win for Chicago on Opening Day as well, throwing six scoreless innings in the White Sox’s 8-1 win over the Angels.

Smith was the No. 1 overall pick in this past winter’s Rule 5 Draft after posting a strong season in the minors with the Milwaukee Brewers. Smith, who went undrafted out of Wake Forest, transitioned from the bullpen to the starting rotation and finished the year with a 3.05 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 94 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A.

Vasil was also selected in the Rule 5 Draft and has bounced around a lot since. Originally a New York Mets farmhand, Vasil was taken No. 14 overall in the Rule 5 by the Philadelphia Phillies but was immediately traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for cash considerations. He spent spring training with the Rays but did not make the team, and after that was placed on waivers and claimed by the White Sox.

As Rule 5 picks, Smith and Vasil must both spend the entire season on their club’s MLB roster or be offered back to their original clubs. Given that Chicago is coming off a historically poor season and aren’t expected to be significantly better in 2025, the locals should all get every opportunity to establish themselves as big league arms.