Over and over this season, Kristian Campbell has forced onlookers to do a double take. His righthanded swing is described as unorthodox or even awkward. It begins with a toe tap that looks like a recipe for a rolled left ankle.
He doesn’t so much lift his leg as he cocks it, as if preparing to deliver a sideways kick in the direction of the pitcher. Once he plants his front foot, he generates enormous force not just with elite bat speed but also by rotating his torso with so much force that he sometimes looks like he’ll fall over toward the third base dugout on his follow-through. On the surface, the swing appears extremely disconnected.
And yet, with startling frequency, Campbell has made outrageously hard contact throughout his first full professional season. Advertisement “You see him in the box and it’s an awkward kind of swing sometimes,” relayed High A Greenville manager Iggy Suarez. “I heard the opposing dugout when I’m coaching third, like, ‘How is he hitting the ball so hard? He looks like Hunter Pence!’ “But when he makes contact, it’s a different sound.
It’s solid. Big leaguers make that sound.” Campbell, 21, who splits his time between second base and center field, spent 40 games this year with the Drive and tore up the South Atlantic League, hitting .
306/.418/.558 with 8 homers and 21 extra-base hits.
He had an on-base streak of 34 games. The performance was sufficiently dominant that the Sox felt compelled to promote Campbell this week .
