Eric Campbell (baseball)

Eric Singleton Campbell (born April 9, 1987), nicknamed "Soup,"^[1] is an American professional baseball third baseman for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). While primarily a third baseman, Campbell has also filled in at left field and first base for the Mets.

Baseball career

College

Prior to playing professionally, he attended Norwich Free Academy and then Boston College. As a freshman at Boston College, he hit .260. He improved his batting average to .350 with 20 doubles and 41 RBI in 52 games as a sophomore and as a junior, he hit .306 with 18 doubles, 43 runs and 41 RBI in 53 games. He was drafted by the New York Mets in the 8th round of the 2008 MLB Amateur Draft.

New York Mets

Campbell with the Binghamton Mets in 2011.

He began his professional career in low-A with the Brooklyn Cyclones that summer, hitting .260 and fielding .949 at third base, his main position. He split 2009 between the Savannah Sand Gnats, where he hit .248, and St. Lucie Mets, with whom he had 6 hits in 22 at-bats. In 2010, he played for the GCL Mets (going 3-for-11 at the plate), St. Lucie (with whom he hit .335 in 46 games) and the Binghamton Mets (with whom he hit .279 in 50 games). With Binghamton in 2011, he batted .247. With Binghamton again in 2012, he hit .297, earning a spot on the Eastern League Mid-Season All-Star team.^[2] He reached Triple-A for the first time in 2013, hitting .314 with 25 doubles, eight home runs and 66 RBI in 120 games for the Las Vegas 51s.

Major leagues

Campbell was promoted to the Mets from Las Vegas on May 10, 2014.^[3] He made his debut batting against the Philadelphia Phillies in the bottom of the sixth inning pinch-hitting for Lucas Duda with the bases loaded, hitting a sac-fly to right fielder Marlon Byrd on a 1-0 count driving in Daniel Murphy for his first major league RBI off pitcher Jake Diekman.^[4] On May 11, Campbell got his first major league hit, a single in the bottom of the fourth inning off pitcher Cole Hamels.^[5] On May 21, he hit his first major league homerun, a two run home run off Los Angeles Dodgers' pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu.^[6]

On July 7, during a game between the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets at Citi Field, in the bottom of the 9th inning and the game tied at three, Juan Lagares bunted towards third base to advance base runner Eric Campbell to second base. Braves third baseman Chris Johnson fielded the ball and threw to shortstop Andrelton Simmons, who was covering second base. Simmons was in no danger of being hit by the runner, yet the umpires ruled the runner out, calling it was a neighborhood play. Mets manager Terry Collins argued that it could not have been a neighborhood play, since it was a bunt play and recording a double play would be almost impossible. Simmons was moving away from 2nd base, and didn't record an out at 1st, either. Therefore, Collins claimed the only reason Simmons had to come off the base was an errant throw. The umpires accepted the claim and reviewed the play, and after review the out call was overturned. This led to an argument and ejection of Braves manager Fredi González, who later said about the call that it was one of the worst calls he'd seen in his life.^[7][8] The Mets would go on to win the game 4-3 in 11 innings.

Campbell finished the 2014 season appearing in 85 games with a batting average of .263 in 190 at-bats in 211 plate appearances while compiling 50 hits, 16 RBIs, 3 home runs, 17 walks, 16 runs scored and striking out 55 times.

Campbell began the 2015 season with the 51s.^[9] On April 15, Campbell was called up to the after David Wright was placed on the disabled list with a strained right hamstring.^[10] On May 5, he was demoted to make room for catcher Johnny Monell on the roster.^[11] He was recalled to the Mets replacing Dilson Herrera who was placed on the DL due to a fractured tip of his middle finger on May 15.^[12] On August 10, he was sent back to the 51s to make room for Michael Cuddyer coming off the 15-day disabled list.^[13] He was recalled on September 1 due to expanded rosters.^[14]

Campbell finished the 2015 season appearing in 71 games with a batting average of .197 in 173 at-bats in 206 plate appearances while compiling 34 hits, 19 RBIs, 3 home runs, 26 walks, 28 runs scored and striking out 37 times.

Personal life

Campbell is of Scottish descent and is a distant relative of Robert the Bruce and the earliest Clan Campbell members Cailean Mór (Colin the Great) and Niall mac Cailein (Sir Neil Campbell), along with the later medieval Earls and Dukes of Argyll.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eric Campbell (baseball).

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)