Kristian Campbell making a strong first impression with the Sea Dogs (2024)

A member of the Portland Sea Dogs for just two weeks, Kristian Campbell knows his good start is just that, the start.

“I’ve got a lot of stuff to work on. Hitting, it’s a work in progress. Defensively, keep getting fundamentally sound at each position I go to. This is my first (full) year playing pro baseball, so there’s really a lot to work on,” Campbell said during batting practice before the Sea Dogs’ game against the Richmond Flying Squirrels on Tuesday at Hadlock Field. “This is just the start. There’s a lot of work to be done, but I’m excited to see what’s going to happen moving forward.”

Promoted to the Sea Dogs from High-A Greenville on June 4, Campbell made a great first impression. Campbell went 20 for 51 (.392) in his first 12 games with Portland, scoring 13 runs with a pair of home runs and 10 RBI. On Monday, the fourth-round pick in last summer’s draft was named Eastern League Player of the Week after hitting .429 (12 for 28) with nine runs, four doubles, two home runs and seven RBI. Campbell collected multiple hits in four of the six games at Reading last week.

Campbell continued his torrid streak in Tuesday’s 12-11 win over Richmond. Serving as the designated hitter and batting cleanup, Campbell reach base all five times he came up, going 3 for 3 while scoring a pair of runs and driving in two. His two-run home run to dead center field in the sixth inning had an exit velocity of 106 miles per hour.

One of the first things Sea Dogs Manager Chad Epperson noticed about Campbell is how consistently hard he hits the ball. That translated into pull-side power for the right-handed 21-year-old against Reading, Epperson said.

“He does find the barrel, and it’s loud. He has this unique bat to ball skill,” Epperson said. “The first week he’s here, he’s just getting comfortable. He wants to make sure he’s seeing the ball, putting the ball in play. As he gets going and has some (at-bats), we saw it in Reading, there was definitely some pull-side power in there.”

Campbell committed to Georgia Tech as an eighth grader. He sat out the 2022 season as a redshirt freshman, then became the Yellowjackets second baseman last season. With Portland, he’s played second base and center field. On Tuesday afternoon, Campbell took grounders at shortstop.

“Put me anywhere and I’ll do it. I played second base in college, so I would say that’s my so-called home for right now. But, I’m really pretty comfortable with everything I’ve been working on out here,” Campbell said. “I used to play shortstop before I was a second baseman, and before I was a shortstop I was a center fielder. I’ve been moving around pretty much my whole life.”

Campbell is the second player from Boston’s 2023 draft class to reach Double-A, joining first-round pick Kyle Teel, a catcher. Campbell and Teel were conference rivals in college. Campbell’s final game at Georgia Tech was a loss to Teel and the University of Virginia in the ACC tournament. Both were all-ACC selections last year.

“We have a great relationship now, but we really didn’t talk back in college,” Campbell said. “It’s kind of funny looking back on that. I had no idea he and I would be on the same team. It’s been fun getting to know him as a person.”

THIS WEEK IS THE FINAL WEEK of the first half of the Eastern League season, and the Sea Dogs are fighting for a playoff spot. The Eastern League playoffs include the winners from each division in each half of the season. With their win Tuesday and Hartford’s loss to Harrisburg, the Sea Dogs (35-29) moved into first-place in the Northeast division. The Yard Goats (34-29) are a 1/2-game back after losing to Harrisburg (36-27), 7-1.

If one teams wins both halves, the team with the next best winning percentage in the second half makes the playoffs.

The Sea Dogs know a good series could clinch a playoff spot, Epperson said.

“This is what you play for, right? You play to get into the playoffs. That’s at every level. I know development’s a huge thing, but these guys want to win,” Epperson said. “They put the work in and they want to get rewarded for it. There’s a little buzz, if you will. I think it was in Reading (last week), too.”

Clinching a playoff spot would even be sweeter for players who likely will not be on the Sea Dogs roster at the end of the season, Epperson said.

“As you know, guys are going to move on to Worcester. In the moment, you want to win. Getting moved up, that’s the goal, but they know they accomplished something. The guys coming up, they know that there’s extended baseball for them, and it gives them the itch,” he said.

AFTER MAKING JUST TWO STARTS since his call up from Greenville, Luis Perales’ season is over. The right-hander and ninth-best prospect in Boston’s minor league system, Perales will have season-ending Tommy John surgery.

Perales left his June 8 start in the third inning with elbow soreness. He made his Double-A debut June 2 at Altoona, striking out seven and allowing two hits in five innings to get the win.

Perales, 21, opened the season in Greenville, where he struck out 46 hitters in 26 1/3 innings. In nine starts between Greenville and Portland, Perales was 2-2 with a 2.94 earned run average this season.

FORMER SEA DOGS INFIELDER Christian Koss is now with Richmond. Traded by the Red Sox to the San Francisco Giants on March 27, Koss was assigned to the Flying Squirrels. On Tuesday, he hit ninth and played shortstop. Koss went 3-for-4 in his return to Hadlock Field with a sacrifice fly, driving in two runs and scoring three.

Koss went on the injured list April 12, and returned to Richmond’s lineup June 4. In 13 games, he has a .341 average with one home run and nine RBI. Koss spent all of the 2022 season in Portland, and part of 2023. In 2022, Koss hit 17 home runs with 84 RBI and a .260 average.

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