The Guardians keep finding ways to feed their own machine, and the latest name pushing forward is right-hander Justin Campbell.
Campbell’s climb has been fast enough to stand out even in a system that keeps producing help for Cleveland. He started the season in High-A, then earned a move to Triple-A Columbus, and that jump is what caught the attention of Sam Dykstra, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo in an MLB.com piece on the biggest risers in each club’s top 30 prospects.
“It has been a good year for the Guardians’ system with Travis Bazzana, Chase DeLauter and Parker Messick all making impacts in Cleveland and Top 100 prospects Angel Genao, Ralphy Velazquez and Cooper Ingle holding serve. Right-hander Justin Campbell, a 2022 supplemental first-rounder, is finally making his pro debut after years of elbow issues and quickly has risen to Triple-A,” Dykstra, Callis, and Mayo wrote.
That ascent looks even more striking when you consider how much time Campbell lost. He essentially missed four years because of injury, yet he’s now forcing his way into the conversation with a 2.70 ERA in nine starts at Double-A and a 2.61 ERA in 15 starts overall this season.
The numbers aren’t spotless. His 27 walks in 51.2 innings jump off the page for the wrong reason. But the strikeout production has been there too, with 66 punchouts over that stretch, and the profile is easy to see: a pitcher who leans heavily on his fastball and has enough swing-and-miss to matter.
Campbell is 25, and his first start for Columbus is coming soon. With Cleveland also being linked to possible bullpen help before the trade deadline, the Guardians may not need to look far if they want to mine their own pipeline for a fresh arm.
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