Red Sox rookie Roman Anthony’s buddy has ‘kept track’ of Kristian Campbell’s progress

BOSTON — Orioles’ 21-year-old Jackson Holliday said that following his friend Roman Anthony’s career often leads to Red Sox-related content appearing in his social media feeds.

As a result, he’s seen updates on Kristian Campbell, who got demoted to Triple-A Worcester on June 20.

“I’ve seen some of the progress that he’s made,” Holliday said about Campbell on Tuesday before a game between the Red Sox and Orioles at Fenway Park.

Holliday — who Baseball America ranked No. 1 on its Top 100 prospect list entering 2024 — can relate to the difficulty Campbell experienced in the big leagues this season, specifically covering shapes of fastballs.

Campbell, Baseball America’s No. 4 prospect entering 2025, won American League Rookie of the Month for March/April, posting a .902 OPS in 29 games. But he batted .154 (20-for-130) in 39 games from April 30-June 18 and the Red Sox optioned him to Worcester.

Holliday works out with Anthony during the offseason. They have trained together at his father Matt Holliday’s baseball facility in Oklahoma. The Orioles second baseman was in Campbell’s shoes last year as a 20-year-old rookie for Baltimore. He batted .189 in 60 games (208 plate appearances), including going 2-for-34 (.059) with 18 strikeouts during his first MLB stint last April, prompting Baltimore to option him back to Triple-A Norfolk after just 10 games.

“I’ve kept track of Kristian and kind of the progress he’s made in Triple A, and I’ve definitely been in that position before,” Holliday said.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora recently mentioned both pitch recognition and “covering certain shapes of fastballs” as areas Campbell struggled with.

So how tough is that for a young hitter?

“That was kind of something that I struggled with, was hitting heaters in the zone,” Holliday said. “It’s definitely tough in big leagues. A lot of guys throw two, maybe three (different types of) fastballs. Like tonight we’re facing a guy (Walker Buehler) who throws three fastballs, and it’s definitely tough to cover all three. But an important factor in hitting is being able to cover the fastball, especially in the zone.”

Campbell, who turned 23 on June 28, has made progress at Worcester. He entered Tuesday batting .340 (32-for-94) with five homers, three doubles, 16 RBIs, seven walks and 22 runs in his previous 25 games. He posted a 15-game hitting streak from July 19-Aug. 7.

Cora said it’s not easy to get better at covering fastballs in the minors because there’s such a talent disparity between Triple A and major league pitching. One reason Garrett Crochet is so difficult is he comes at hitters with a four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball and cut fastball.

“The velo here is harder, it’s faster,” Cora said. “Locations are on point here. With all due respect to the players down there, the gap is a big gap. Just one of those where we’ve got to keep working. He’s got to keep working and see what the future holds.”

Campbell recently said he redshirted his freshman year at Georgia Tech after having difficulty that fall season handling velocity and certain pitches. He was able to make the adjustment then and he’s confident he’ll do it again.

“It’s tough and it takes a lot of practice,” Holliday said about covering fastballs. “I don’t think anyone’s exactly honed in on the perfect solution for it.”

Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson, who won the 2023 AL Rookie of the Year as a 22-year-old, experienced immediate success like Campbell did and then saw major league pitchers make adjustments.

Henderson’s first taste of the majors came at the end of 2022 when he posted a .259/.348/.440/.788 line in 34 games. But he struggled with average and slugging during April 2023. He went 14-for-74 (.189) with a .348 on-base percentage, .311 slugging percentage and .659 OPS that first month.

“In 2022 I came up and I’d say I had a decent amount of success,” Henderson said. “And then ’23, like I was batting like .150 or whatever it was through like the first probably month of the season or whatever. That was a big adjustment for me and it was just kind of getting back to myself and being aggressive and just allowing myself to fail in a sense. And once I did that, then it kind of evened out.”

Henderson said baseball is “a game of adjustments.” He described the period when the league adjusts as “the first little wave.”

“I feel like that’s the biggest thing when you first come up is just that first big adjustment and just keeping your confidence after it,” Henderson said.

Asked whether it’s fastballs, breaking balls or offspeed pitches that are most difficult to hit for recently-promoted young players, Henderson said it depends on the player.

“It’s difficult to say because I mean everybody’s swing is different and it can cover different pitches,” Henderson said. I’d say it’s more approach based and you sticking to what you’re good at and not I guess like letting the pitcher dictate what you’re trying to do.”

Holliday and Henderson discuss Anthony’s early success

Holliday is impressed with how Anthony — who was Baseball America’s No. 1 prospect before recently graduating from prospect status — has controlled the strike zone at 21. Anthony has a 14.6% strikeout percentage.

“It’s extremely impressive to watch how he can control an at-bat,” Holliday said. “I know this is the first time we played against each other since Low A, but just watching last night and his patience and the pitches that he takes, it’s pretty high level, for sure. Playing against guys like (Kyle) Schwarber and (Bryce) Harper a couple weeks ago and watching them take at-bats, it’s pretty similar to pretty high lefties. So it’s definitely impressive and I’m really excited for him.”

Henderson added about Anthony, “It’s just a testament to him and I’m sure his approach and everything. I mean he’s an unbelievable player to come up and do it at a young age. And to get that money at that age is pretty awesome, too.”

Henderson is referring to the eight-year, $130 million extension that Anthony signed Aug. 6.