Kristian Campbell contract extension: Red Sox agree to eight-year, $60 million deal with top prospect

The Boston Red Sox have agreed to an eight-year extension with rookie infielder Kristian Campbell, the team announced Wednesday. The deal includes two club options and is worth a guaranteed $60 million.  The two option years are worth $19 million in 2033 and $21 million in 2034, reports CBS Sports insider Julian McWilliams. If both exercised, the deal would be for $100 million over 10 years. Campbell, 22, only just made his big-league debut on Opening Day. He’s since notched six hits in his first 20 trips to the plate, including three extra-base knocks.

Campbell, a former fourth-round pick, entered the spring ranked as the third-best prospect in the game here at CBS Sports. Here’s what we wrote at the time:

Campbell has greatly boosted his stock since being drafted in the fourth round during summer 2023. He trained his bat speed over the winter, empowering him to launch 20 home runs last year after smoking only four during his single season at Georgia Tech. Campbell’s added muscle gives him a well-rounded game: he has a good feel for contact and the zone alike; he’s an above-average runner; and the Red Sox continue to play him at shortstop, albeit while giving him looks elsewhere on the diamond, too. Campbell already has the appearance of being a draft-day steal. Expect him to continue to enhance that perception in 2025, likely while spending a lot of time in the majors. 

Throughout MLB history, just three players have signed an extension worth at least $100 million prior to accruing a full year of service: Julio Rodríguez ($210 million), Wander Franco ($182 million), and Corbin Carroll ($111 million). Ronald Acuña Jr., meanwhile, fell just short of the mark, at $99.4 million. Other recent comparable deals of note include Jackson Chourio of the Brewers, who inked an $82 million extension with two option years prior to making his major-league debut at age 20. Colt Keith in January of last year signed a $28.64 million extension with three club options before he appeared in an MLB game. As well, White Sox outfielder Luis Robert prior to the abbreviated 2020 season signed a six-year, $50 million extension with a pair of option years before he’d logged any major-league service time. 

Campbell’s extension is Boston’s second with a player who had less than a full year of service time within the past 12 months. Last April, the Red Sox struck an eight-year agreement with outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela that guaranteed him $50 million. At the time, Rafaela had fewer than two weeks of big-league service time — a meager total on its own, but one that made him a certified veteran compared to Campbell’s lone weekend in The Show.

He’s also Boston’s second extension of the season, as his deal was announced just a day after the team locked up new ace Garrett Crochet on a record six-year, $170 million contract.