Summer is coming to a close, with fall officially beginning this weekend. But there’s still plenty of important baseball to be played.

And questions to be answered as the Minor League season’s conclusion draws near and Major League award contenders are being considered. This week’s slate of MLB Pipeline Inbox questions deal with MLB hardware, 2024 first-round college bats (for two separate queries!) and start off with one of the best performers in all of the Minors and what his future may hold in Boston.

We’ve talked a lot about Campbell of late, including having him on as a guest on a recent episode of the MLB Pipeline Podcast. And the most recent episode, he was part of a discussion about finalists for our Hitting Prospect of the Year Award. But believe it or not, he’s not been analyzed via the Inbox … until now.

It’s becoming pretty evident that Campbell is going to hit, regardless of where he plays defensively, after producing his way from High-A to Triple-A (until a late injury ended his first full season) and finishing with an impressive .330/.439/.558 line to go along with 20 homers and 24 steals. Along the way, he’s played second, shortstop and center field, with a little bit of third base.

Third and short aren’t real options; he played shortstop to fill in for Marcelo Mayer when the fellow Red Sox prospect was hurt. So I think it really leaves second base and the outfield. While Campbell does have speed and athleticism, his arm action has led some to believe that he won’t stay on the dirt and he hasn’t shown great instincts in center, leaving some to believe left field might be his best long-term home. That does put pressure on the bat, but like I said, it looks like the bat will respond.

So I think the Red Sox could do one of two things: Put him in an outfield corner and let him be, or move him around with the idea that it would keep the one slight weakness in his game from getting exposed. He might be a fringy defender (45 on the scouting scale) at second or in center and he wasn’t awful filling in at short, so that could work. But keep in mind there’s other personnel at play, especially since Campbell should be ready to contribute in 2025. Seeing a lineup that includes Mayer and Trevor Story up the middle on the dirt and an outfield of Campbell in one corner, Roman Anthony in the other, with Jarren Duran in center, should have Red Sox Nation very excited.

I’m not sure I’d say that Montgomery was “clearly the better player,” though I suppose you’re surmising that some did. By the time the Draft came around, we had Montgomery at No. 8 and Moore at No. 13 on our Draft Top 250 and truthfully, there was not much separating the two spots in terms of talent level. Add in the fact that Moore was out of his head hot as Tennessee won it all and Montgomery got hurt, and it isn’t all that shocking that things went down the way they did. That’s in retrospect, of course, as it was a bit surprising to see Montgomery tumble out of the top 10. It should be noted, though, that they got the same exact signing bonus, another sign that there isn’t much separating them and I think both have the chance to be very productive offensive players. We’ll have to wait at least until next year to be able to compare them side-by-side when Montgomery has returned to competitive action.

As we’ve discussed time and time again, the Angels do like pushing guys quickly. And honestly, if Moore hadn’t gotten hurt this summer, one has to wonder if he wouldn’t have ended up in Los Angeles this year, like Nolan Schanuel did in 2023. Given what Moore has done in Double-A (.911 OPS in 23 games), even if they want to slow it down a little, he could start back with Rocket City and move quickly from there. I’d be surprised if the second baseman isn’t in the big leagues by the All-Star break in 2025.

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Let’s see ... checks Skenes’ stat line ... 126 innings?

In all seriousness, I think Skenes has thrown enough, and been dominant enough, to draw serious consideration for National League Rookie of the Year. Full disclosure, I actually am voting for this award this year, and I also live in Pittsburgh. Do with that information what you would like. I do think the fact that he didn’t come up until May 11 was a drawback compared to others vying for the award who have been up all year, but he’s been so good over 21 starts that I don’t personally see it as an issue. The last pitcher for a full season to win Rookie of the Year (I’m not counting 2020 or Shohei Ohtani’s two-way season in 2018) was Michael Fulmer in 2016, and he had 159 IP. Jacob deGrom won it in 2014 with 140 1/3 innings, so I don’t think Skenes is that far off.

I’ve yet to figure out exactly how I’m going to vote on this one because I do want to step back from having seen Skenes more than the other candidates. But while WAR is far from the be-all, end-all, I will point out the NL Rookie “standings” for WAR among the competitors, as of Thursday:

Paul Skenes, 5.5
Masyn Winn, 4.3
Jackson Merrill, 4.0
Jackson Chourio, 3.9
Shota Imanaga, 2.7

Most seem to feel it will come down to Skenes and the two Jacksons, but I wanted to provide this list to point out that Winn has been really good as well. We’ll have to wait to see how it goes down, but as for the question, Skenes is in the conversation.

We broke this one down to wrap up this week’s pod episode, so give it a listen. But no, I’m not particularly worried about the Rockies’ first-rounder. We’re talking 100 at-bats over 25 games… after playing 60 for Georgia, then being shut down for a while, then ramping it back up for his pro debut. As we discussed, it’s a little surprising he’s struck out so much (34 vs. just four walks after a 57/41 BB/K ratio for the Bulldogs), but it’s way too early to draw any conclusions. Give him an offseason to rest, reset and get to work and I’m confident we’ll see him producing as expected during his first full year in 2025.