Dylan Campbell comes through in the clutch

by:Paul Wadlington06/11/22

And I don’t mean a handbag. Dylan Campbell’s journey from cursed to clutch over the course of 2022 has been remarkable. Cursed, sometimes cussed, if you read the game threads.

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Amazingly, it took Campbell 21 games into the season to stay consistently above the Mendoza line. After the Texas Tech series – that’s late March – he was batting a smooth .178 with zero home runs. Yikes.

But Spring arrived and Campbell blossomed.

By April 30, he was at .256 with 5 home runs. An enormous turnaround. But the steep slope of progress has only charted better.

Currently, Campbell is hitting .271 with 10 home runs on the year and a .512 slugging percentage. 4 of those home runs have happened in the last four games during regional and super regional play. And the clutch hits – as in today’s game winner against ECU – just keep accumulating.

Campbell’s evolution is a season long lesson in honoring process over results. Evidenced most recently in the regional opener against Air Force. Campbell went 0-4. That’s the box score. But the box score can lie. If you watched those plate appearances, he had a terrific plate approach, hit the ball hard, extended at bats, and it simply didn’t go his way. Texas stuck with the process and believed behaviors over results. The payoff for that has been Campbell hitting .400 over his last four games with four home runs.

Dylan Campbell is bringing juice to the bottom of the order. Credit Campbell for his rise and for making the adjustments necessary, but a hat tip must also go to the Texas coaches who had every reason to go another direction when Campbell struggled early, but stuck with him and have harvested the results.

Texas is one game from Omaha. Dylan Campbell’s recent play is a major reason why.

Is there a fanbase in the country that feels better about their No. 8 hitter right now?

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