After ‘ultimate experience’ in Red Sox home opener, Kristian Campbell ready for more

Saturday was the second day in a row that the Red Sox celebrated a long-term commitment to a young superstar It feels like just the previous 24 hours we were gathered in this room and celebrating a very critical moment for the Boston Red Sox joked chief baseball officer Craig Breslow as the Fenway Park s interview room filled with laughter early that afternoon Twenty-six hours after Garrett Crochet s contract-extension press conference Breslow and club president CEO Sam Kennedy were back in the same seats This time Kristian Campbell sat between them his parents and younger brother off to the side It s been a long time since baseball s oldest ballpark had such an exciting and promising potency Campbell is a big reason why with Breslow describing the extension as a massively important moment for this organization Various of what sets Campbell apart from fellow top prospects Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony is that he wasn t the prototypical rising star Campbell was Boston s draft-compensation pick from the San Diego Padres after they signed Xander Bogaerts He skyrocketed from High-A to Triple-A last season and won several awards for his efforts He played less than two seasons in the minor leagues before making this year s Opening Day roster Yet in the relatively short time since Campbell joined the organization he s impressed everyone from teammates and coaches to the front office with how he goes about his business diligently and with maturity beyond his now- years He can be reserved at times but he lights up when he talks about his favorite topics including his loved ones and of syllabus baseball Kristian was not drafted in the first round he wasn t a top prospect upon entering the organization disclosed Breslow who praised Campbell and the organization s scouting and rise departments What he was was a good athlete who made himself a great competitor because of his work ethic and diligence and open-mindedness and attitude The word to describe your son around camp from where I sit anyway as someone who s not in the clubhouse each and every day is humility Kennedy mentioned that s presumably life s greatest achievement That was evident too in why Campbell decided to sign the extension and his mindset now that he s a millionaire Requested if he had any big purchases in mind he revealed he hadn t thought about it and allegedly wouldn t until the offseason Saving and investing is a great idea he reported the Herald Save it as much as you can and keep playing He also knew there was a good chance he was be leaving tens even hundreds of millions on the table by signing this deal but that wasn t his priority The extension is life-changing for me and my family he advised the Herald on Friday morning It s a really big deal to us and for them to put their trust in me and do what they did means a lot to me and my family It s just a blessing to be in this situation and it s life-changing for me and my family Campbell s deal is one of if not the earliest long-term commitment the Red Sox have ever made to a performer but it sounds like it won t be the last of its kind John Henry and Tom Werner and Mike Gordon have been pushing us to be aggressive in terms of locking up the future Kennedy stated referring to the club s principal owner chairman and president of Fenway Sports Group While Breslow and Kennedy focus on that Campbell is thrilled to have the contract his family and his future mapped out because he wants to focus on his own job It frees me up a lot he stated of getting the deal done That s literally all I m worried about right now is just winning games Over regular-season games stand between Campbell and the final guaranteed year of his contract To the -year-old the age- season may feel eons away but he has no reservations about spending them in Boston It s a great place to be for when I am he explained earnestly eliciting a scant laughs I have no complaints about it couldn t ask for much more Inquired what made Boston and the Red Sox the right fit for him Campbell noted Everything The city s great It s a city of winning people It s a winning society there s winning people everywhere around me everywhere I go and the coaches and staff around me make it really easy for me to enjoy being here Already in his young career Campbell is something of a home-opener veteran Three of his eight major league games were home openers first in Texas then Baltimore and definitively Fenway the day before his press conference Championship No at his new home field reinforced that he made the right choice Just being in front of fans being in front of the city for the first time just experiencing that that s what I m really excited for to be honest he stated the Herald on Friday I mean I played in Texas and Baltimore now and those were exciting but I feel like there s nothing like the home crowd It definitely was the ultimate experience he reiterated in the press conference I mean I experienced a couple more opening days on the road and this one that we had the day before today didn t compare to those two It was better here in Boston Fans were really engaged they were into the challenge and we did really good also I mean everybody went off the previous day he declared happily eliciting more chuckles Just the force I was on-deck whenever Trevor Story and Wilyer Abreu homered back-to-back It was just crazy just hearing how loud the stadium was and the potency that went all throughout the stadium so it s fantastic