MLB notes: Kristian Campbell has been everything Red Sox could’ve hoped for

When it comes to top prospects it s easy to get carried away The possibilities seem endless and if you re not careful you might find yourself penciling a athlete in as an All-Star before they ve even played a big league competition Yet whatever hype may have originally surrounded Kristian Campbell the rookie has so far lived up to the bill Now more than a month into his rookie season Campbell has proven his meteoric rise through the minor leagues was no fluke and has rapidly established himself as a legitimate MLB contributor The -year-old has been among Boston s the greater part consistent hitters and Friday he was honored as the American League s Rookie of the Month for April after batting with four home runs RBI a OPS and wins above replacement through his first career games entering Saturday Those totals collectively rank among the best on the band and put Campbell as one of the early favorites for the American League Rookie of the Year award He s done a lot of good things offensively he dominates the strike zone and he hits the ball hard the other way He s learning too which is the best thing Red Sox manager Alex Cora reported Defensively he s getting better too working to his right that play has been hard on him since he got here turning double plays great so far so good As of this writing Campbell leads all AL rookie position players with WAR beating out Tampa Bay outfielder Kameron Misner and is tied with Athletics reliever Justin Sterner for the top AL rookie mark overall He also leads all AL rookies in plate appearances runs scored extra-base hits and on-base percentage If he maintains his current pace Campbell is in line to comfortably clear WAR for the season which generally translates to All-Star caliber production If he achieves that benchmark Campbell would become just the seventh Red Sox rookie to post a -WAR season joining Fred Lynn Carlton Fisk Ted Williams Nomar Garciaparra Johnny Pesky and Freddy Parent Not bad company to be in Even setting aside his rookie status Campbell s production stacks up well against the best in the league full-stop His OBP ranks fourth in the AL among all qualifying players and he also ranks inside the top- in OPS doubles and walks Defensively Campbell has endured chosen growing pains but overall he s performed well despite not having much experience at second base relative to his peers Fangraphs presently has the rookie at minus- defensive runs saved which is below average but he s also in the middle of the pack as far as innings played double plays assists and putouts Translation Campbell hasn t been a liability defensively and combined with his offensive contributions he s represented a sizable improvement over what Boston has gotten from its second basemen over the past two seasons According to Baseball Reference Red Sox second basemen collectively rank fourth in MLB in Wins Above Average compared with th last season and th in That includes chosen contributions from David Hamilton and Romy Gonzalez as well but Campbell has gotten the lion s share of the playing time and to this point has provided needed stability to a position that has been a obstacle for Boston ever since Dustin Pedroia s retirement Can Campbell keep it up Everyone struggles at particular point but it would be foolish to bet against him given that over the past year he s now produced at the High-A Double-A Triple-A and MLB levels without ever skipping a beat And with the toughest transition of them all behind him Campbell might just be getting started Red Sox outfielder Wilyer Abreu is among the early favorites to earn All-Star honors among American League outfielders Stuart Cahill Boston Herald Abreu on All-Star trajectory Unlike Campbell who finished last season as a consensus top-five prospect in baseball Wilyer Abreu was never particularly heralded as a minor leaguer Even though his plate discipline and outfield arm were recognized by evaluators as advanced tools early on he wasn t regarded as the kind of top- guy that typically generates headlines and excitement That lack of hype has maybe colored perceptions of Abreu ever since even as he s blossomed into a highly productive major leaguer Last year Abreu became the first Red Sox rookie to win a Gold Glove since Fred Lynn in He finished sixth in the AL Rookie of the Year vote and positively impacted the club in just about every area Yet this past winter he was still subject to offseason commerce speculation either as the primary return for a big-time pitcher or in utility of balancing the lineup and clearing the club s outfield logjam Players like Abreu are usually viewed by fans as untouchable so have we been selling him short Given the way he s started this season the question may no longer be is Abreu underrated At this point maybe it should be is Abreu turning into a star Through the first month of the season Abreu has been one of Boston s best all-around players and has put together a strong early matter to start the All-Star Tournament for the American League His WAR ranks second among AL outfielders behind only New York s Aaron Judge and he ranks fourth in the AL overall in walks sixth in OPS and RBI and seventh in on-base percentage He also has plus-four defensive runs saved which trails only Ceddanne Rafaela and Cleveland s Steven Kwan for the best mark among AL outfielders and is two shy of the overall MLB lead Abreu s early dominance is especially impressive when you consider he missed half of spring training with a gastrointestinal illness and was playing catchup over the final three weeks Cora stated the outfielder has been excellent and petitioned if he feels Abreu gets enough credit around the match the Red Sox manager disclosed he s been trilling his praises for the last two years Fellow outfielder Jarren Duran echoed that point We know how great he is Duran noted I m not sure how the fans think or outside of baseball but he s putting himself on notice by winning a Gold Glove last year and he s absolutely raking this year so I think it s going to come as he gets more years in the league that people are going to start taking notice but as teammates we ve definitely taken notice As for Abreu he stated the Herald on Friday that he never concerned himself with his lack of prospect hype coming up and that the majority of pivotal thing for him has dependably been staying healthy and available He added that he s happy with the way he s started the season but when demanded if being an All-Star is something that motivates him he downplayed the suggestion Obviously every ballplayer wants to be in that match and everybody wants to be part of it but that s not something that s on my mind right now that s not something I m pursuing or anything like that Abreu reported Friday via interpreter Carlos Villoria Ben tez I m just trying to stay healthy and play the meeting every day and see what happens Even still with each tournament that goes by Abreu is becoming harder to ignore The Red Sox don't have much depth at first base behind Triston Casas who is expected to miss important time after suffering a knee injury on Friday AP Photo Charles Krupa Sparse good options for Sox at first It s never a good thing when a unit sustains a vital injury to an everyday performer but the Red Sox are uniquely ill-equipped to get by without Triston Casas If it had been any other infield position the Red Sox could have likely called up top prospect Marcelo Mayer to fill the void and had an outfielder gone down the club could have promoted Roman Anthony MLB s consensus No prospect But behind Casas the Red Sox have very little first base depth leaving the club with inadequate good options as they face another extended absence from the -year-old For now Romy Gonzalez will likely get the lion s share of the playing time at first but after him things get dicey Saturday the Red Sox called up Abraham Toro to fill Casas spot on the roster but while the utility man has six years of MLB experience he has seen limited action at first base and has only appeared in games at the position in his big league career So while Toro is technically the new backup first baseman he s mainly in Boston to fill Gonzalez s original bench role The other minor league options behind Toro don t inspire confidence either Nathan Hickey who has been Worcester s primary first baseman has never appeared in the majors and the only other options with the WooSox now on the -man roster are utility man Nick Sogard and infielder Vaughn Grissom a second baseman who has appeared in four games at first for the WooSox this season Maybe he could get a look but trying to make that transition at first base would be a tall order At various point the Red Sox will almost certainly have to make a few kind of external addition but if they were inclined the Red Sox could also get creative with their existing big league roster Connor Wong who was just activated from the IL on Friday has appeared in career games at first base including six starts Given how well Carlos Narvaez played behind the plate during his absence the Red Sox could conceivably keep the rookie behind the dish by occasionally starting Wong at first ensuring both players receive regular playing time while allowing Gonzalez various time off his feet The other option which will surely be the preferred choice among a great number of fans but likely won t be considered by the organization would be shifting Rafael Devers from designated hitter to first base That seemingly won t happen however given that the Red Sox already caused friction with their star slugger once by moving him off third base and might be hesitant about upsetting the apple cart again with another midseason position change Cora already reported earlier this season that the club won t consider playing Devers at third even to give Bregman a day off so he can focus on being the DH and he reiterated that point on Saturday as well The idea of him suddenly playing him at first would be a jarring change of module Either way losing Casas is a brutal blow both for the club and for a player who has already endured several other notable injury setbacks early in his career