The Red Sox announced that they have signed prospect to an eight-year contract extension that spans from 2025 to 2032, with club options for 2033 and 2034. It is apparently a $60 million guarantee, which breaks down as follows. Campbell, a Beverly Hills Sports Council client, will receive a $2 million signing bonus and a $1 million salary this year. He will then earn $2MM, $3MM, $4MM, $6MM, $9MM, $13MM, and $16MM over the next seven seasons. The first club option is worth $19 million and has a $4 million buyout, while the second option is worth $21 million.There are additional escalators for award voting and All-Star selections. The Sox are buying out two of Campbell’s free agency seasons, with the option to extend his contract by two more years after that.
Campbell’s stock has been surging for quite some time. In 2023, the Sox selected him with the 132nd overall pick, paying him a signing bonus of just under $500,000. He played 22 minor league games shortly after signing, batting.309/.440/.471.
His success maintained during his first full season. Last season, he advanced from Single-A to Double-A and Triple-A, batting.330/.439/.558. That production resulted in a wRC+ of 180. He walked in 14.3% of his plate appearances while striking out 19.9%. He also stole 24 bases while playing defense at second, third, shortstop, and outfield.
That breakout season propelled him to the top of prospect lists moving into 2025. Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, FanGraphs, and Keith Law of The Athletic all ranked Campbell as one of the top ten prospects in the league this winter.
That also put Campbell on track to make the majors this year, with second base eventually emerging as the best option. The outfield is already full, with Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu all present. Roman Anthony will join that group soon. Then there’s Masataka Yoshida, who primarily served as the designated hitter last year. However, with Alex Bregman at third and Rafael Devers at designated hitter, there is no room for Yoshida. Bregman may opt out after this season, but the Sox might replace him with Marcelo Mayer, as Trevor Story has already committed to shortstop.
Despite the fact that there are many moving parts, Campbell was assigned to second base to begin the season. He had a rather mediocre spring performance, but the organization believed in him, and he has hit.375/.500/.688 in his first five major league games.
Despite the fact that he has made his big league debut, this is roughly equivalent to pre-debut extensions. According to MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, the benchmark for a player with no service time is Jackson Chourio’s eight-year, $82 million extension signed just over a year ago. That surpassed the previous record of $50 million for Luis Robert Jr., which was set a few years ago. Campbell outperformed Robert but fell short of Chourio’s level, which is reasonable. Campbell will turn 23 in June, while Chourio was due to turn 20 in March of last year, providing Chourio an advantage in terms of earning potential.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that the team waited until after Opening Day to finalize this arrangement. It was reported last March that players who sign pre-debut extensions, such as Chourio, are ineligible for the potential promotion incentive. To deter service time manipulation, the current collective bargaining agreement includes provisions that incentivize teams to include top prospects on their Opening Day rosters. One of these strategies is that elite prospects who are called up early enough to complete a full service year might earn their teams an additional draft selection through awards voting.
Campbell entered this year as the consensus top prospect and made the Opening Day roster. That means he may earn the Sox an extra choice if he wins Rookie of the Year or finishes in the top three in MVP voting during his pre-arb years. That would have been off the table if this contract had been completed before the season began, but it is still on the table now that Boston has waited a few days.
It’s simple to understand why Campbell preferred to save this much money earlier in his career. As previously said, he was a relatively unknown player entering the draft. While some players might earn millions of dollars in signing bonuses, Campbell was limited to less than $500,000. Even though he made this year’s Opening Day roster, he wasn’t eligible for arbitration until after 2027. This agreement enables him to deposit some life-changing funds in the bank ahead of schedule.
Even the best prospects sometimes struggle in the big leagues, and Campbell was a surprising surger last year. If he encounters any speed bumps in the following years, he will be financially secure. However, he may have limited his future options. If one of the two choices is chosen, he will not be eligible for free agency until his 33rd season.
The Sox plainly believe the future is bright, and they have acquired some cost certainty and control over nearly all of Campbell’s prime years. If he continues to perform well on the field in the next years, he will be a good value. Even if he earns eight-figure pay in the final years of the contract, he will still be paid significantly less than top players on the open market.
It’s the second big extension they’ve issued in recent days. They signed left-hander Garrett Crochet to a $170 million contract earlier this week. That was a different beast since Crochet is much closer to free agency and more established as a major leaguer.
Another significant distinction between the two is that Crochet’s agreement does not take effect until 2026, therefore it has no influence on Boston’s competitive balance tax number in 2025, whereas the Campbell agreement does. RosterResource calculates the club’s CBT number at $249MM, which above the $241MM basic level. Back in February, president Sam Kennedy stated that the club had already crossed the line and intended to stay there.
