Their ?Soup? is almost ready.
Eric Campbell, a former Norwich Free Academy star and 2005 graduate affectionately called ?Soup? by his teammates, is in his sixth season as a minor leaguer in the New York Mets organization. He has positioned himself to fulfill his dream of playing in the big leagues.
?You think about it constantly, but you also understand that it?s out of your control and the only thing you can do is go out and play hard,? Campbell said last week. ?I?ve said it before: Nobody plays baseball to play in Triple-A. Everybody wants to play in the big leagues.?
Campbell is batting .292 with seven home runs and six stolen bases in Triple-A, the highest minor league level, with a .357 average in July. This impressive campaign comes on the heels of a 2012 season in which he was named the Double-A All-Star game MVP in a game that featured current major-leaguers Darin Ruf and Brock Holt.
?(Getting promoted) would mean everything,? said Campbell, who plays in the infield and outfield. ?It would be satisfying because I?ve put so many hours into it. To finally get there, it would be special. You think so much about it, you wonder every day if it will pay off. For it to finally happen, (I) could finally take a deep breath.?
If that exhale happens, Campbell will be welcomed with open arms in the Mets? clubhouse. Several former teammates spoke highly of Campbell prior to a game against the San Francisco Giants last week.
?I mean, we?ve been together since 2008 on and off, so he?s become a good friend,? outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis said. ?We?ve stayed pretty close with him. He?s a lot of fun to play with; he?s a great teammate. We?re a lot alike so we kind of hit it off right away. ... The last three years he?s killing it, so I think the sky is the limit.?
Infielder Ike Davis was drafted (first round) in 2008 with Campbell (eighth round), and sees a future for Campbell on the biggest stage.
?He?s getting better every year,? Davis said. ?He can play every position pretty well and he?s a good baseball player. He hits lefties really well. I see him hopefully getting the chance to play in the big leagues and maybe platoon for a little while and maybe find his niche doing that.?
?Really well? may be an understatement; he is hitting .360 against southpaws in 74 at-bats.
?It?s tough in this organization, because he does a lot of similar things that a lot of guys do,? Campbell?s former roommate, Josh Satin, said. ?But he does them well. He?s had a good career. It?s been six years. There?s not a lot of guys that we got drafted with that are still around and still knocking on the door, and he?s one of them. I think the world of him as a player and a guy.?
Satin, who calls Campbell his best friend in the organization, is one of those players with Campbell?s skill set ? a versatile infielder drafted two rounds prior who was pounding left-handed pitching prior to being called up June 9.
Campbell was drafted as a third baseman out of Boston College, but quickly told his first manager, ?Hey, I can play outfield, and they stuck me in left (field).?
Ever since, Campbell has been a Swiss Army knife, playing first and third base as well as left and right field. While learning on the job, Campbell recorded a .980 fielding percentage. To put that in perspective, former Red Sox third baseman and Gold Glove winner Mike Lowell finished his career with a .976 mark. Campbell even pitched an inning in a game earlier this year.
?I love changing positions,? Campbell said. ?I think that?s the only way I?ll get to the big leagues is being that guy off the bench who can play (multiple positions). So it?s something I take pride in. ... I realize that?s going to be my calling, so I just go with it.?
His position isn?t the only thing he?s changed for the Mets.
?I probably lost 15 pounds at the beginning of last year. I just felt more comfortable playing at that weight,? Campbell said. ?I?ve always been a guy who loves running the bases. I?ve never wanted to be that lunky home run guy, and I really wasn?t hitting a lot of home runs anyway, so I needed to work on a different part of my game.?
Campbell admitted he misses his family and ?seeing the woods and the water? of Connecticut, where he plans to settle down. In many ways, Las Vegas is an ironic city for such a modest personality.
?He?s pretty quiet,? Mets outfielder Andrew Brown said. ?It takes a little bit to get into his inner circle, but once you do, he opens up, so it?s a good quality. You don?t earn his trust very easily, which really shows good character.?
That character was tested in 2011 when Campbell batted a disappointing .247 in Double-A.
Said Satin: ?He had a tough year, and he had to battle his way back into like the favor of the organization. He did that last year, and it?s really impressive because for guys like him and myself, usually one year where you?re not yourself and it kind of derails your career ? and he was injured for most of that year, which a lot of people don?t know. He came back last year as a backup and became the best player on the team by a lot and became an All-Star.?
Campbell ranks in the top-five at NFA in career hits, runs scored and RBIs, according to former coach John Iovino?s 29-year-old records, and if there was a statistic for baseball IQ, Campbell would rank near the top of that, as well.
In the state tournament of Campbell?s senior year, NFA faced top-seeded East Hartford, a dominant team that hadn?t allowed more than four runs all year. The Wildcats jumped out to a nine-run lead in the first inning and Iovino said he had to ?keep kids off the ceiling.? East Hartford crept back into the game until a big Campbell home run.
Campbell remembers the game well ? even details about watching East Hartford take infield practice before the game ? but his version of the game left out his clutch homer.
?The ball freaking jumped off his bat. It was a cannon to left center; I mean, it was a bomb,? Iovino said. ?When he hit that shot, that was the clincher that took us to the semifinals that we probably never should have been in.?
Campbell?s ability to make big plays has followed him throughout his career, as evidenced by his two-out walk-off winner in a Double-A All-Star game last year.
?When I was in Vegas, he was one of the hitters that we could count on,? Satin said. ?When he was up, I felt confident that he?d get the job done, so I think he deserves a chance (in the majors), and I hope he gets it.?
?Soup? said if that opportunity comes, his first call will be to his mother and father, Hugh ?Duke? Campbell, who also is his former coach.
?If that day comes, the first guy I?ll call is Iovino,? the elder Campbell said. ?My wife and I, and probably his wife and he, will probably hop on a plane no matter where it is and all go see a ballgame. John doesn?t forget and he stays loyal.?
And if that phone call never comes?
?Eric will play until they strip the uniform off of him,? the elder Campbell said.
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