Last year was a roller coaster of emotion for Kristian Campbell.

On one hand, 2025 was marked by incredible highs. Coming off one of the most dominant seasons by a minor leaguer in recent memory, the Red Sox rookie made the Opening Day roster, earned an eight-year contract extension and was named American League Rookie of the Month for April after a torrid start to his career.

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But then, Campbell fell into a funk and couldn’t keep his head above water. Eventually after two months of struggles he was optioned to Triple-A, where he spent the rest of the season.

Looking back, Campbell says he learned a lot about himself, but despite everything that went wrong he doesn’t consider his rookie year to be a disappointment.

“I don’t think it was a failure or anything,” Campbell said recently at Fenway Fest. “And honestly, you need it sometimes to grow. So I’m really excited for this year, I think it’s going to be a lot better than last year, just going in with a plan and a foundation, I’m in a good spot.”

Going into his second big league season, Campbell said he feels much more relaxed and better prepared for everything that comes with life in the majors. He said he often found himself trying to do too much, so this offseason he’s made a number of mechanical adjustments that he hopes will allow him to simplify his swing and rediscover his April form.

Campbell has also bulked up from 202 to 216 pounds, and earlier this winter he played Winter Ball in Puerto Rico, batting .245 with a .771 OPS and more walks (13) than strikeouts (12) in 14 games for the Criollos de Caguas, who are managed by Red Sox bench coach Ramon Vazquez.

“He played well towards the end,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “In the beginning he was a little bit sore so we stayed away from him for two or three days, but when he found it, he was good.”

Campbell’s struggles were striking considering his meteoric rise through the minors. Originally a fourth-round draft pick in 2023, Campbell burst onto the scene with a historic 2024 season, rising from High-A to Triple-A and going from unranked to a consensus Top-10 prospect in MLB.

Last season marked Campbell’s first real test of adversity in professional baseball, and Red Sox senior director of player development Brian Abraham said he believes he’ll ultimately benefit from the experience.

“We love our players to face adversity, to understand how to get out of it, how to improve. A lot of our training revolves around challenging players around failure so they can handle it and adjust from it,” Abraham said. “Would we have loved for him to have a Rookie of the Year type campaign? Certainly. But long-term the struggles that he had, the adjustments he’s had to make will be better for him in the long run.”

Campbell echoed that sentiment, saying no matter how bad things might get in the future, he can always look to his first month as proof that he belongs in the majors.

“I think if I do struggle a little bit I’ll be able to get out of it a lot faster than last year when I was just trying to figure everything out,” Campbell said.

The big question mark for Campbell is what position he’ll play going forward. Last year he primarily played second base, but statistically he ranked among the worst defensively at the position in the majors, recording an ugly minus-16 defensive runs saved in only 59 games.

Campbell also played nine games in the outfield and acknowledged that it might be his best fit given his physical skill-set, but the Red Sox already have a logjam at the position, with Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran and Masataka Yoshida all vying for playing time.

The Red Sox are also expected to add at least one more bat, which could further complicate Campbell’s path, but for now he said he isn’t worried about his role and will be ready for any opportunity that might arise.

“Wherever they need me, to be honest,” Campbell said. “Wherever they need to fill a spot or wherever they need me to play, I’ll be available to play it.”

As far as Campbell and the Red Sox see it, the next step is simple. Get Campbell hitting again and the rest will take care of itself.

“I think getting my offense back together is the main thing and then we’ll see what happens from there,” Campbell said.