These days, when some players are widely known throughout the prospect-watching world while they’re still in high school, it’s hard to come out of nowhere as a baseball prospect. But Kristian Campbell did just that, rapidly rising from an unheralded fourth-rounder to become one of the top prospects in the game. How did he do it? The fact that the Red Sox conducted a major overhaul into their offseason development program had a lot to do with it. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
What exactly does that offseason development program include? A technology-driven focus on refining hitting mechanics that looks an awful lot like the technology-driven focus on refining pitching mechanics that has taken over the game in recent years.