Connect with us

Published

on

College football’s transfer portal officially opened Monday, and with it came all the storylines we’ve come to expect.

QB1 is out at one blue blood program, while several Power 5 schools witnessed a mass exodus. The names filled the portal and college football fans were left to figure out what this means for their favorite school — and player — ahead of bowl season and spring football.

Our reporters came together to find out the most intriguing prospects in the portal, the best quarterback landing spots and the biggest questions facing each conference after the first three days of the open window.


My favorite available transfer is …

David Hale: It’s not the biggest name in the portal, but cornerback Fentrell Cypress II could have a big impact wherever he lands. He was a huge part of a massive turnaround for the Virginia defense in 2022, finishing the season with 13 PBUs while allowing just 5.9 yards per target as the ACC’s top-graded corner by Pro Football Focus. He’s already on the radar of several blue blood programs, and if he’s not a household name today, he could easily blossom into one of the top corners in the country in 2023.

Andrea Adelson: The quarterbacks and skill players usually get all the shine, but we can’t forget the big guys up front. That is why I think Rhode Island lineman Ajani Cornelius is so intriguing. He obviously has the size (6-foot-4, 320 pounds) that everyone is looking for in an offensive tackle. He had a dominant year in 2022, including a performance against Pitt that should go a long way toward proving he can handle FBS defensive linemen (Cornelius did not allow one pressure in that game). He also has two years of eligibility left, which helps for both roster planning and development. With over 20 offers already, including Florida, Auburn and Oregon, Cornelius will have his choice of landing spots.

Tom Luginbill: Dasan McCullough. Pass-rushers come at a premium, and outside of Jermaine Johnson two years ago, who transferred to Florida State, few have entered the portal with McCullough’s skill set and production.

Dave Wilson: Western Kentucky quarterback Austin Reed. His path is the story of the current era of college football. In high school, he put up big numbers in his only year as a starter and finished third in the state’s player of the year voting, but was not heavily recruited. He signed with Southern Illinois, but after redshirting his first year, he transferred to the University of West Florida in Pensacola, where he led the Argos to a D-II national championship, throwing for 4,084 yards and 40 TDs, was second-team All-American and was sixth in the Harlon Hill voting, the small-school Heisman. Reed then transferred to WKU as a grad transfer, where he threw for 4,247 yards, second in the nation, and is now back in the portal looking for his fourth school.

Tom VanHaaren: Under Ball State running back Carson Steele‘s bio, it says he has a pet alligator. So that automatically vaults him to the top for me. Outside of Steele, I would go with Braden Fiske, a defensive tackle from Western Michigan. He had 58 total tackles, 12 tackles for loss and six sacks this season for the Broncos. He’s getting interest from Notre Dame and USC among others and could be a player who shines in a Power 5 program next season.

Craig Haubert: Indiana linebacker Dasan McCullough jumps out for several reasons. A highly ranked ESPN 300 prospect in the 2022 class, he is a transfer option with still plenty of football ahead of him who has already shown signs of fulfilling his potential. His father, Deland, is the RBs coach at Notre Dame, and he contributed all season for the Hoosiers, getting several starts and registering 6.5 tackles for loss and four sacks. The portal has no shortage for WRs, DBs and even QBs, but an explosive, aggressive versatile front-seven defender with some proven experience should not be overlooked.

Alex Scarborough: Fine. Since everyone is playing it cool and not talking about the big-name quarterbacks here, I will. Say what you want about the way DJ Uiagalelei fizzled out at Clemson, but he has potential. Remember, everyone left Spencer Rattler for dead once he transferred from Oklahoma to South Carolina — and for most of the season they were right — but then he showed against Tennessee and Clemson what he’s capable of. But I’d be chasing two quarterbacks in particular: Devin Leary and Spencer Sanders. I give Sanders a slight edge because he brings more of a dual-threat skill set to the table (18 career rushing touchdowns to Leary’s five), but you can’t go wrong with that much talent and experience at the most important position on the field.


The potential QB fit I like the most is …

Adelson: DJU to UCLA. Heading back to the West Coast might be the fresh start that Uiagalelei needs, and going to a school with a head coach who has built his reputation on his offense makes this one feel like a good fit. Uiagalelei’s struggles have been well documented, but there is a valid question to be asked about whether the Clemson offense put him in a good enough position to succeed.

Tom Luginbill: Spencer Sanders to Auburn. He could have Malik Willis-type production in Hugh Freeze’s scheme. He has the ideal blend of passing prowess and dynamism. The downside is he’s got only one year left of eligibility.

VanHaaren: I agree with Andrea about Uiagalelei at UCLA, but I would like to see Devin Leary at Wisconsin with Luke Fickell. Not just because Wisconsin took Russell Wilson from NC State and saw success, but Fickell is going to need immediate help at quarterback with Graham Mertz entering the portal. Leary could come in and start from day one, elevate the Badgers’ quarterback play and get into a system that helped get Desmond Ridder to the NFL.

Craig Haubert: There are plenty of big names out there. And one who may be a long shot, but could be intriguing, is Georgia Tech‘s Jeff Sims to Florida. The Gators scored big on the recruiting trail by flipping ESPN 300 QB Jaden Rashada from Miami, but with Anthony Richardson entering the draft, there is room for an experienced QB on the roster. Sims had been inconsistent at Georgia Tech, but he is a talented dual-threat QB who has flashed big-play ability and could benefit from a fresh start. He would also give the Gators’ QB room a player in the mold of Richardson who is arguably a slightly stronger passer. Sims would likely also come in with tempered expectations as compared to some other transfer QBs, allowing for a good fit and competitive offseason QB battle.

Scarborough: I’m with Craig. I’d love to see Sims at Florida. He’d be a great fit in Napier’s offense.


Conference questions

ACC

Biggest ACC storyline to emerge​​: The QB exodus. The ACC entered the 2022 season billing it as “the year of the QB.” It didn’t work out so well for a number of big names, including Clemson’s Uiagalelei, NC State’s Leary and Boston College‘s Phil Jurkovec. All three have now entered the transfer portal, along with Georgia Tech’s Sims, Virginia’s Brennan Armstrong and Pitt’s Kedon Slovis. Those six QBs account for 142 games started at the schools they’re leaving. While some, like NC State, BC and Clemson have replacements on their current rosters, it still figures to be an active portal season for the league, with Louisville and Wake Forest potentially looking for veteran talent, too. In 2022, just two teams — North Carolina and Duke — entered the year without a veteran QB at the helm. At this point, they’re among the few — along with FSU, Virginia Tech, Syracuse and Pitt (where Jurkovec announced he intends to transfer) — who have a QB on the roster with more than a handful of starts to their name.

ACC contender with the most work to do in the portal: Florida State Seminoles. There are probably other teams with bigger needs in the portal, but no one in the ACC has the combination of prior portal success and potential for a huge 2023 like FSU. Mike Norvell has completely rebuilt the program through the portal, landing stars like Jermaine Johnson, Fabien Lovett, Dillan Gibbons, Jared Verse, Trey Benson and Jammie Robinson over the past two years. The only downside to that success is that he’ll need to keep going back to the well, as his transfer success stories became NFL draft picks. Still, the impact those transfers turned Florida State from laughingstock to genuine contender in the ACC, and if Norvell works his magic again this offseason, 2023 might be the year the Seminoles finally reclaim their spot at the top of the conference. — Hale

Biggest remaining question: There is little doubt Miami wants to use the portal to not only turn over its roster, but answer significant questions at key positions (wide receiver, running back, offensive line, for starters). The Hurricanes were not as successful with the portal last year, as many of the key transfers they brought in had mixed results. But after a 5-7 record in Year 1 under Mario Cristobal, there is a bigger sense of urgency to make sure the Canes use the portal to their advantage to help supplement what is projected to be a top-10 recruiting class. There was already pressure on Cristobal to get the Hurricanes back to national relevance. After a disappointing 2022, that pressure will only grow. — Adelson

Big 12

Biggest Big 12 storyline to emerge: The initial stages haven’t been overly damaging to the Big 12 teams, other than some key losses at Oklahoma State. Texas had several highly rated recruits jump in, but most of them weren’t significant contributors, and Oklahoma is in a similar situation, although the impending departure of wide receiver Theo Wease is a loss. But the Sooners and Longhorns will always draw their share of portal attention.

With Kansas State and TCU playing in high-profile games, there could still be movement, but right now, the biggest losses have come in Stillwater.

Big 12 contender with the most work to do in the portal: Oklahoma State. Now, Sanders, who has been incredibly exciting and puzzlingly inconsistent in four years as a starter, has entered his name into the portal looking for a fresh start. Star in-state recruits like Braylin Presley and Trace Ford are portal-bound. Dominic Richardson, a key member of the running back rotation, is too, along with safety Kanion Williams, who has been a team captain. Linebacker Mason Cobb, who had 96 tackles (13 for loss), is also in the portal.

Coach Mike Gundy has rebuilt over and over again and has done more with less for years. But this will be quite a test at a time when the Cowboys are looking to stand atop the new Big 12.

Biggest remaining question: Can TCU capitalize on this incredible run in Sonny Dykes’ first year? At SMU, he made Dallas a bounce-back destination for players from the area who wanted to come back home and play. Now in a Power 5 job, making the playoff in his first season, there’s proof of concept to sell recruits. After hitting on several key transfers last year like Johnny Hodges and Josh Newton, who both earned All-Big 12 honors as key pieces, can the Horned Frogs become an even bigger player? — Wilson

Big Ten

​​Biggest Big Ten storyline to emerge: Maryland had 14 players enter the transfer portal since the beginning of December. That included tight end CJ Dippre, who had three touchdowns in 2022, and linebacker Ahmad McCullough, who had 45 tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack this season. There aren’t a ton of star players leaving, but 14 is a significant number and will hurt the depth for a team that needs depth to make a run late into the season. Maryland coach Mike Locksley has done well in the portal in the past, so if they can replace some of those spots with contributors, it won’t be a negative for the team.

Big Ten contender with the most work to do in the portal: Penn State has added some good pieces to its roster through recruiting over the last few classes, especially with quarterback Drew Allar and running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen. The Nittany Lions had a good season in 2022 with 10 wins, but their two losses were to Michigan and Ohio State. Penn State needs to add a few solid contributors from the portal to bulk up the roster while some of the high school prospects continue to develop. They’re not far off from being where they want to be, but have already been active in the portal to shore up the roster. Penn State has offered wide receiver Jimmy Horn Jr., a South Florida transfer, tight end Kyle Morlock, defensive end Elijah Jeudy, former Alabama cornerback Khyree Jackson among others. Getting some immediate contributors will help Penn State continue to improve and compete with Michigan and Ohio State in the coming years.

Biggest remaining question: Michigan doesn’t typically take in transfers unless they’re graduate transfers, Ohio State has typically built its team through recruiting and picking up a few transfers here and there, but there are a few Big Ten teams that could use big hauls from the portal,. Michigan State and coach Mel Tucker have seen success in the portal with the 2021 season, winning 10 games and plucking running back Kenneth Walker III from Wake Forest. But they have also seen the downside in 2022 when transfers don’t contribute as much as anticipated and high school prospects aren’t fully developed. In addition to Michigan State, new Nebraska coach Matt Rhule could benefit from bringing in transfer players. The question, though, is because he has been in the NFL, will he have the relationships to get in fast enough with difference makers before they make a decision. Rhule and his staff will have to work fast and be active to try to get players they want that can help from day one. — VanHaaren

Pac-12

Biggest Pac-12 storyline to emerge: The Deion Sanders era has begun in Colorado and it has kicked off with plenty of fireworks already. Sanders made news quickly upon arriving in Boulder, where a video showed him talking to current Colorado players and telling them to enter the portal. He also effectively told them his son, Shedeur, would transfer and be the Buffs’ quarterback. The message was pretty clear: change is coming. And change, in today’s game, is only quickened by the portal.

Sanders’ recruiting prowess now that he’s at a Power 5 school will inevitably seep into not just high school recruiting but transfers too. There is already chatter about Jackson State recruits (especially, no. 1 overall prospect Travis Hunter) following Sanders to Boulder and there’s no doubt Sanders is going to be making plenty of calls to players entering the portal, selling them on his vision for the Buffaloes.

It will be fascinating to see the turnover at Colorado and how much change Sanders can affect this offseason alone. The portal allows him to flex his strength in a completely different way: He doesn’t have to wait for recruits to get on campus, get acclimated and go through the learning curve that comes with making the leap from high school.

Pac-12 contender with the most work to do in portal: UCLA. The Bruins are losing some valuable seniors on both sides of the ball and, unlike their counterparts Oregon, Utah, USC, Washington and even Oregon State and Arizona, they don’t have a recruiting class (as of now) in the top-50 in the country.

The good news for UCLA is that Chip Kelly and his staff are already making moves. On Monday as the portal opened, the Bruins nabbed Cal inside linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo to begin shoring up their defense.

Above all, the Bruins have to decide how to replace outgoing quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and his incredible 2022 season. It felt like Kelly and DTR found something this season and the program would benefit in a major way if they were to continue that momentum despite a change at the position. Could they go with backup Ethan Garbers? Is freshman Justyn Martin ready? Or will they dip into the portal and try to snag a quarterback looking for a fresh start and a new home?

Biggest remaining question: How many quarterbacks will make their way West? The conference, with its inconsistent defenses and offensive-minded coaches, has become a bit of a refuge for quarterbacks looking for greener pastures.

Last season, the Pac-12 added Caleb Williams, Michael Penix Jr., Bo Nix and Cameron Ward via the transfer portal, while Washington State quarterback Jayden de Laura made his way to Tucson too. Only one of the aforementioned quarterbacks (Nix) is leaving college and there’s already spots available (UCLA, Oregon State, Oregon, Arizona State) for other highly-touted quarterbacks like Devin Leary and D.J. Uiagalelei, who have already entered the portal, to consider.

The Uiagalelei landing spot will be particularly interesting to watch. The now-former Clemson quarterback is from Southern California and played at local powerhouse St. John’s Bosco. If UCLA wants to transition from the Dorian Thompson-Robinson era without having to turn to an underclassman, Uiagalelei presents an intriguing option. — Uggetti

SEC

Biggest SEC storyline to emerge: All in all, it’s been relatively quiet in the SEC so far. The only noteworthy quarterbacks to hit the portal have been Ole MissLuke Altmyer and Vanderbilt‘s Mike Wright — and neither was a starter to end the season. ArkansasMalik Hornsby is on the move, but KJ Jefferson already announced that he was coming back after an injury-plagued season. Only a handful of our top-35 transfers are from the SEC: Missouri wideout Dominic Lovett, South Carolina tight end Austin Stogner, Alabama receiver Traeshon Holden and offensive lineman Javion Cohen. Given how Alabama lost two games and missed the playoff, the Crimson Tide are worth watching. So far, more than a dozen players are in the portal, including former top offensive line prospect Tommy Brockermeyer. They have needs at several key positions: receiver, offensive line and quarterback.

SEC contender with the most work to do in the portal: I’ll be interested to see if Georgia does any work in the portal. They were the only Power 5 team this season that didn’t sign a single transfer. So let’s rule them out from being overly active. To me, that leaves rival Florida as one of the teams to pay attention to. Napier did a lot in the portal during his first offseason, bringing O’Cyrus Torrence and Montrell Johnson with him from Louisiana, and signing Ricky Pearsall from Arizona State. But he needs even more help. The roster isn’t anywhere near complete, and now he’s got a starting quarterback to replace and more than a dozen players who just hit the portal. Look for Napier and his staff to beef up the trenches — the offensive and defensive lines.

Biggest remaining question: Who’s going to get a quarterback? Because there are quite a few teams with a need at the position. Florida just lost Anthony Richardson to the NFL. Stetson Bennett is finally leaving Georgia. Same for Hendon Hooker at Tennessee, Will Levis at Kentucky and Bryce Young at Alabama. Joe Milton III seems like he’ll get a long look to replace Hooker in Knoxville, but everywhere else feels wide open for competition. At Alabama in particular, dual-threat Jalen Milroe didn’t take the bull by the horns when Young was injured. While there are a few good young prospects waiting in the wings — freshman Ty Simpson and commits Dylan Lonergan and Eli Holstein — Nick Saban might not have the patience to develop a quarterback when a ready-made product is available in the portal. — Scarborough

Continue Reading

Sports

Sources: Pac-12, MWC agree to mediate lawsuits

Published

on

By

Sources: Pac-12, MWC agree to mediate lawsuits

The Mountain West and Pac-12, along with Boise State, Colorado State and Utah State, have agreed to enter mediation related to the ongoing lawsuits related to school exit fees and a poaching penalty the Mountain West included in a scheduling agreement with the Pac-12, sources told ESPN.

It is a common step that could lead to settlements before the sides take their chances in court, however, a source told ESPN that, as of Wednesday evening, it was an informal agreement. The Mountain West initiated the talks, a source said.

In September, the Pac-12 filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the legality of a “poaching penalty” included in a football scheduling agreement it signed with the Mountain West in December 2023. As part of the agreement, the Mountain West included language that calls for the Pac-12 to pay a fee of $10 million if a school left the Mountain West for the Pac-12, with escalators of $500,000 for each additional school.

Five schools — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Utah State and San Diego State — announced they were leaving the Mountain West for the Pac-12 in 2026, which the Mountain West believes should require a $55 million payout from the Pac-12.

In December, Colorado State and Utah State filed a separate lawsuit against the Mountain West, seeking to avoid having to pay exit fees that could range from $19 million to $38 million, with Boise State later joining the lawsuit. Neither Fresno State, nor San Diego State has challenged the Mountain West exit fees in court.

Continue Reading

Sports

Sources: Patriots exec Stewart to be Huskers’ GM

Published

on

By

Sources: Patriots exec Stewart to be Huskers' GM

Nebraska is hiring New England Patriots director of pro personnel Patrick Stewart as the football program’s new general manager, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Wednesday.

Current Nebraska general manager Sean Padden — who oversaw top recruiting classes in this cycle in high school recruiting and in the NCAA transfer portal — will move to a new role of assistant AD for strategic intelligence, sources told Thamel. Padden’s role will include ties to the salary cap, contract negotiations and analytics, while Stewart will run the personnel department.

Under second-year coach Matt Rhule, Nebraska finished 7-6 last season, capping its year with a 20-15 win over Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl. The Cornhuskers were 3-6 in the Big Ten.

In New England, Stewart’s departure comes at a time in which the Patriots are in transition under first-year coach Mike Vrabel. The hiring of Vrabel has had a ripple effect on the front office with the addition of vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden, who had worked with Vrabel with the Tennessee Titans for five seasons (2018 to 2022).

The Patriots’ personnel department is still led by executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf, who had tapped Stewart as director of pro personnel last year. Sam Fioroni had served as the Patriots’ assistant director of pro personnel in 2024. Others on staff could also be eyed for a promotion or new role.

Stewart, who graduated from Ohio State, began his professional career in the college ranks with the Buckeyes (2000 to 2004), Western Carolina (2005) and Temple (2006) before breaking into the NFL with the Patriots in 2007 as a scouting assistant. He then split time between college and pro scouting with the organization over the next 10 seasons.

Stewart was a national scout for the Philadelphia Eagles (2018-19) before working for the Carolina Panthers as director of player personnel (2020) and then vice president of player personnel (2021-22). He returned to the Patriots in 2023 as a senior personnel adviser.

Continue Reading

Sports

Inside the Red Sox’s plan to revolutionize hitting — and the three young stars at the center of it

Published

on

By

Inside the Red Sox's plan to revolutionize hitting -- and the three young stars at the center of it

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Inside the batting cages at the Boston Red Sox‘s spring training complex, where the future of hitting is playing out in real time, the best trio of position prospects in a generation blossomed.

Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer have spent hundreds of hours in the building, rotating around its 10 tunnels, though their best work always seems to happen in Cage 4, right inside the main entrance. When they walk through the door, underneath a sign with a Ted Williams quote in big, capital letters — “WE’RE GOING TO LEARN HOW TO DO TWO THINGS … WE’RE GOING TO HIT IT HARD AND WE’RE GOING TO HIT IT IN THE AIR” — they enter a hitting laboratory. Every cage is equipped with a HitTrax that gives them real-time batted-ball data. Trash cans house an array of training bats — overweight and underweight, long and short, skinny. A Trajekt robot, capable of replicating every pitch thrown in the major leagues over the past half-decade, is joined by a dozen other standard pitching machines. Exit velocity leaderboards dot the walls.

Here, Campbell, Anthony and Mayer are in the middle of everything, appropriate for what their future holds. They’re learning modern hitting philosophy, applying it in an array of competitions that aim to turn their tools into skills, jamming to Bachata and Reggaeton and rap and rock, talking immense amounts of trash. On a small desk inside Cage 4 sit two binders outlining the Red Sox’s hitting philosophy: one in English and one in Spanish. These binders outline what the organization’s hitting coaches refer to as its Core Four tenets: swing decisions, bat speed, bat-to-ball skill and ball flight.

As pitchers have leveraged baseball’s sabermetric revolution into designer offerings and a sportwide velocity jump, hitting has fallen behind. Batting average and weighted on-base average (a metric that measures productivity at the plate) are at low points over the past half-century. Pitchers regularly flummox hitters. The Red Sox believe they can bridge the gap. And the new big three — a nickname that was originally given to Mayer, Anthony and Kyle Teel, the catching prospect at the heart of the trade that brought ace Garrett Crochet to Boston over the winter — are the philosophy’s beta test.

“The training environment is the biggest thing with us,” said Anthony, a 20-year-old outfielder. “We push each other so much, and it’s always that competitive — friendly, but competitive — environment we set in the cage. We talk crap to each other. We really try to get the best out of each other and really beat each other in training. And I think it makes us better when we take the field.”

There, their results are undeniable. Mayer, 22, is a smooth-fielding, left-handed-hitting shortstop who fell to the Red Sox with the No. 4 pick in the 2021 draft, weathered injuries and saw his exit velocity spike and strikeout rate dip last year. Anthony, who signed for a well-over-slot $2.5 million bonus after Boston chose him with the 79th pick in the 2022 draft, is widely regarded as the best hitting prospect in the minor leagues. The 22-year-old Campbell, a fourth-round pick in 2023 as a draft-eligible redshirt freshman, was a revelation last season, the consensus Minor League Player of the Year who went from unheralded to a prospect coveted even more than Anthony by some teams despite an unorthodox swing.

All three will be in the major leagues sooner than later — for Campbell, perhaps by Opening Day. They’ll bring with them a shared experience they believe will transfer to the big leagues. When they eventually face Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, they’ll have a sense of what to expect, not just because they stood in against him on the Trajekt but because coaches took his best fastballs (100 mph at the top of the zone), added an extra half-foot of rise to them and challenged the kids to hit it.

“You want to be surrounded with the best,” Anthony said, “because it makes you want to become the best.”


IN SEPTEMBER 2023, after the minor league season ended, the Red Sox gathered their minor league prospects at their spring training complex for a two-month offseason camp. Boston’s staff assesses every hitter to form an action plan, and Campbell’s was clear. He made excellent swing decisions and had elite bat-to-ball ability, both of which manifested themselves as he hit .376 with 29 walks and 17 strikeouts over 217 plate appearances in his lone season at Georgia Tech. While the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Campbell swung the bat hard, the Red Sox saw room for improvement. Ball flight represented the biggest area of need after his average launch angle during 22 postdraft pro games was just 2 degrees.

Inside the complex’s cafeteria one day in camp, Campbell was surveying his options when Red Sox hitting coordinator John Soteropulos meandered by. Soteropulos had joined the team after three years as a hitting coach at Driveline Baseball, the Seattle-based think tank where philosophies have pervaded the game over the past decade. Soteropulos noticed shepherd’s pie on the cafeteria’s menu and alerted Campbell.

“You need to eat that,” Soteropulos said. “It’s got bat speed in it.”

“I hope it has ball flight, too,” Campbell said.

While Mayer entered the MLB ecosystem as a top prospect and Anthony a tooled-up could-be star, Campbell was different. Taken with the compensatory pick the Red Sox received when longtime shortstop Xander Bogaerts signed with the San Diego Padres, Campbell signed for less than $500,000. His swing was janky. He needed work. Soteropulos, director of hitting and fellow Driveline alum Jason Ochart and assistant farm director Chris Stasio were empowered by Red Sox management to implement their new systems in hopes of extracting the best version of later-round picks like Campbell — and if it worked, he would represent the proof of concept.

From the moment he arrived in the organization, Campbell impressed the staff with his desire to learn. And challenging players beyond the perfunctory repetitions hitters take — the same soft flips in the batting cage, the same 60 mph batting practice before every game — is at the heart of Boston’s philosophy.

Professional baseball players, the thinking goes, are elite problem solvers. Giving them complex problems drives them to adapt. If they train in environments that don’t take them outside of their comfort zone, improvement is negligible. Challenging hitters, whether with the Trajekt or with machine balls that fly only when struck on the sweet spot or with slim bats that emphasize barrel control or hundreds of other ways, forces that adaptation. And it’s those changes that take a nonexistent or atrophied skill and give it heft.

“I really wanted to go to a team that could develop me into a great player and that will take the time to help me because I feel like I’m really coachable and I listen,” Campbell said. “I just need the right information. And if I don’t know what I’m doing, it’s hard for me to correct and change things.”

Over those two months, the Red Sox didn’t overhaul Campbell’s swing as much as they found the best version of it. Thirty years ago, Coop DeRenne, a professor at the University of Hawaii, ran a study on overload and underload training that showed it significantly improved bat speed. The industry has mostly ignored its findings, but Driveline embraced them and brought them to the Red Sox. Campbell trained two days a week with bats that were 20% heavier and 20% lighter than standard 31-ounce bats. Though he whipped his bat through the zone with a preternatural ability to stay on plane — the angle of the bat meeting the angle at which the pitch arrived at home plate — delivering the barrel with greater force reinforced a tenet Red Sox coaches preach repeatedly: “The bats do the work for you.”

The bigger challenge was adulterating Campbell’s swing to hit the ball in the air. Williams, who wanted to be known as the greatest hitter who ever lived, long advocated for ball flight because he understood a hard-hit ground ball is typically a single while balls struck in the air produce the vast majority of extra-base hits. Pulling the ball in the air is particularly important. The longer a bat takes to make contact, the more speed it generates. Meeting a ball in front — which typically allows a hitter to pull — maximizes the capacity for damage.

Rather than overhaul Campbell’s swing, the Red Sox preferred to let his natural athleticism guide him toward a solution. Instead of moving his hand position or getting rid of his toe-tap, Campbell altered where he wanted to strike the ball, reminding himself with every rep to do something counterintuitive: Swing under it.

“For me, it’s just a feeling,” Campbell said. “You got to know where your barrel is at all times. It was in an odd spot because I was trying to get more elevation on the ball than normal. So I feel like I have to swing under the ball to hit it in the air. And I really was on plane because I’ve been so on top of it all these years.”

Campbell’s barrel aptitude improved by taking reps with a fungo bat or a slim 37-inch bat (3 to 4 inches longer than the standard bat), which forced him to meet the ball farther in front of the plate. The skills learned in doing so eventually meld with a hitter’s’ regular bats, and variations of drills — offsetting standard pitching machines to the side, mixed-pitch Trajekt sessions — allow them to be applied in new, challenging environments. In the cages in Ft. Myers, coaches pitted Campbell and his fellow prospects against one another to see who could hit the ball hardest or most consistently. Winners gloated — “Marcelo talks s— 25/8,” Anthony said — and those who didn’t win returned the next day intent on revenge.

When last winter’s offseason sessions ended, the Red Sox were hopeful they would translate into a breakout season for Campbell. Even they could not have predicted what transpired over the ensuing months. Campbell said he came into 2024 hoping to hit five home runs — one more than in his lone college season. He started the season at High-A Greenville and hit his fifth home run May 9. Less than a month later, with three more home runs on the ledger, he ascended to Double-A, where he spent two months and whacked eight more homers. He was promoted to Triple-A for the final month and added another four, finishing the season hitting .330/.439/.558 with 20 home runs, 24 stolen bases, 74 walks and 103 strikeouts in 517 plate appearances.

“I remember the first time I saw him hit, I was like, ‘The hell is this?’ ” Mayer said. “He’s in the cage with the weirdest swing I’ve ever seen, and he’s got his long bat, and I’m like, ‘What?’ Next thing I know, he’s hitting .380.”

When Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story first saw Campbell on a rehabilitation assignment in Triple-A, he was taken by his ability “to self-organize and learn how to solve problems.”

“He has a special talent for moving the bat,” Story said. “His bat speed is just violent. When you hear it, you’re like, oh, s—.”

“It’s controlled violence,” Campbell said. “You got to make sure you see the ball. And then whenever you make a decision to swing, you got to put your fastest, hardest, best swing on it and make sure you stay somewhat under control while that ball is going on so you can hit the ball as well as possible.

“Every swing really can’t be the same. The way pitches move and how good everybody is nowadays, if you take the same swing every time and only can hit certain pitches, that’s a mistake. You’ve got to be able to adjust to different things, different pitches, different locations.”


DURING THE FIRST week of this year’s spring training, before the full Boston squad reported, Red Sox Hall of Famer Dwight Evans stood outside of Cage 4 and admired what he was seeing. Evans spent two seasons as a hitting coach, in 1994 with Colorado and 2002 with the Red Sox, and he recognizes baseball’s evolution. The game changes, and even if all the technology isn’t his cup of tea, he isn’t going to argue with the results.

In Campbell, Mayer and Anthony, he doesn’t see prospects. Without an at-bat to their names in MLB, they remind Evans — who spent 20 seasons in the major leagues, 19 with Boston — of his peers.

“It’s almost like they’ve been around 10 years in the big leagues,” Evans said. “They just have it. They know what they’re trying to do.”

The Red Sox believe this is just the beginning for Campbell, Mayer and Anthony and that their approach to hitting will create a pipeline of prospects to join a core that includes the trio alongside All-Stars Rafael Devers, Jarren Duran, Alex Bregman and Story, and the young and talented Triston Casas and Ceddanne Rafaela. Buy-in at all levels is paramount, and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, assistant general manager Paul Toboni and farm director Brian Abraham are leaning into the work done by Ochart, Soteropulos and Stasio. Breslow hired Kyle Boddy, who founded Driveline, as a special adviser. Five other former Driveline employees dot the player development, baseball science and major league staffs, and Stasio was promoted over the winter to director of major league development, a new role in which he will apply the development philosophies to the big league club and maintain the continuity for prospects who ascend to Fenway Park.

Campbell is in line to be the first — of many, the Red Sox hope — to crack the big league roster. He’s in competition for the second-base job this spring, a testament to the organization’s belief in him. If he wins it, Bregman will play third and Devers — who has received MVP votes five of the past six years and signed a franchise-record $313.5 million contract — will move to designated hitter, a role he said unequivocally he doesn’t want to play.

The Red Sox see Campbell as worth the potential drama. Perhaps it’s a function of five playoff-free seasons in six years since their 2018 World Series title, but it’s likely simpler: Campbell is too good to keep down. Mayer and Anthony won’t be far behind. The competition fostered in Cage 4 — and the work ethic it demands — isn’t going anywhere.

Even before Campbell’s arrival, Mayer and Anthony had grown close through late-night, postgame hitting sessions. Both have beautiful left-handed swings, more traditional than Campbell’s in which he waggles the bat, pointing it almost directly toward the sky at the swing’s launch point. Starting from a better place than Campbell hasn’t kept either from reaping the benefits of Boston’s program.

“I don’t know if I’m hitting the ball harder because it’s necessarily bat speed or because I’m working in the gym, but both together could only help,” Mayer said. “So over the years, I feel like I’m hitting it harder, I’m moving the bat quicker. I have a better understanding of my swing. So all those things tie in and play a big role and lead to success.”

Knowing which prospects will find major league success is impossible, though in an era defined by objective data, the misses aren’t nearly as frequent. There was no bat-speed data when Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Wil Myers were all top-10 prospects for Kansas City in 2010. Trajekt was a dream machine when Arizona had Justin Upton, Chris Young and Carlos Gonzalez in 2007. Exit velocity was the domain of rocket ships in 2004 when Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder and J.J. Hardy were coming through the Milwaukee system.

It’s a whole new baseball world, and it is on full display in Cage 4, where Campbell, Mayer and Anthony have spent so much time working with their instructors that they joke that Soteropulos might as well sleep there.

“It’s pretty cool to think about how many spring trainings we’ve been in there,” Anthony said. “Looking back at it and being on the big league side, just appreciating guys like John and guys on the minor league side that take so much time out of their days to get us better.”

For all the struggles hitters around baseball have faced, the Red Sox believe in their system — and in this first generation that will serve as a litmus test to its efficacy.

“I’m committed to the game,” Campbell said. “I want to be the best player I can be every day. I want to bring whatever I can to Boston. Once I knew they drafted me, I was like, ‘That’s the team I’m going to debut with. That’s the team I’m going to play with. I want to play with the team for a long time.’ I just knew that I’m going to give all I have to this team that took a chance on me. I’m going to make sure it’s worth it for them and me.”

Continue Reading

Trending