I recently wrote a post on LHRP project, Antoine Kelly. But it is a non-prospect prospect that is the premise of this post…RHP Christopher Robert Campos.
Campos was born in Montebello and raised in Hacienda Heights. He became a two-way star in high school. He attended epic Mater Dei High School for his freshman and sophomore years. But in summer session proceeding his junior year, his would be Varsity Coach said that D! coaches would not be scouting him because he was too small. Instead, Campos transferred to Damien High School in La Verne to play for the legendary Andy Nieto. Nieto promised Campos an opportunity and that was all Campos asked for and he delivered.
Campos hit .347 for his prep career, and on the mound, he recorded a 0.25 ERA and helped his Damien Spartans win the Baseline League Championship. He was first team MVP, and was named to the First Team All Baseline League, was an SGV All-Star Selection, and then SGV All-Star MVP. He was also named to the SUN/Bulletin-All Area Team and San Gabriel Valley All-Area Team.
Not only did he earn the awards, he got that D1 scholarship to St. Mary’s in Moraga. He chose St. Mary’s because the coaches would allow him to continue to play SS and pitch.
“Jordon Toowig was the guy that was really heavy on recruiting me there, and he’s really good at what he does. He really feels like family. I really felt wanted, which was a big reason why I ended up there. During the recruiting process.”
From a personal standpoint, I know how important the recruiting coach is to the recruit. John Savage was the recruiting coordinator for University of Nevada – Reno. Savage beat University of Miami, Texas A&M, and Clemson, who were the other teams he was highly recruited by. Turtle Thomas the legendary recruiting coordinator at Miami later said they never lost a recruiting battle to UNR. Savage is now the head coach at UCLA, the #1 D1 baseball team this year.
Campos spent 3 years at Saint Mary’s and got to play with former Dodger, RHP Michael Hobbs while he was there, and thinks of Hobbs as sort of an older brother. Hobbs is the all-time saves leader at Saint Mary’s.
Campos was a 2-way player and was the starting shortstop, then pitched some while he was in College. He hit .347 for his career and had an OPS of almost .800 so his offensive tool is very good. In 3 years at St. Mary’s he threw 34.2 IP and compiled 1.30 ERA. He allowed 19 hits and 15 BB with 41 K.
He had a broken collarbone in 2021, and a broken foot in 2022. But, after the 2022 season, he got drafted in the 7th Round by the Dodgers, making him the second 2-way player out of St. Mary’s in 7 years. The first being Tony Gonsolin.
“Draft day was amazing, and I had just flown in from where I was playing Summer Ball, so I was at home for the draft and I had all my family with me. Around the 5th and 6th Rounds, I started getting a bunch of calls so I figured I’d be going soon. My agent called and told me the Dodgers wanted me and had offered. I had actually said no to the first 2 offers and he said that the Dodgers were going to take me anyways. so they ended up taking me and we all started cheering. We were all super happy and it was a great experience and a memory I will never forget.”
Becoming a Dodger was a great experience because he grew up loving the Dodgers, and he actually played at Quakes Stadium while he was in High School at Damien.
So, when he got called up to Rancho, it was exciting on a bunch of different levels.
“I got to play at Quakes Stadium when I was in High School, so when I got the call to pack up my stuff and head to Rancho I called my family and let them know, then they let all my Aunts and cousins and everyone else know. So I had a really good crowd when I pitched there because it’s only like a 40-minute drive from where I grew up.”
In 2024, Campos spent half the year at Great Lakes (A+) before getting promoted to Tulsa (AA). In 2025, he spent the full year at AA.
Once drafted, Campos became a full-time pitcher, but is very advanced for that type of experience. Like Gonsolin, Campos moved into the rotation and has remained there. He is still diminutive at 5’10” and 170 pounds. But he seems to hold up to the length of the season. In 2024 he threw 25 games (15 starts) and pitched 110.1 innings. Last year he pitched in 26 games (23 starts), and accumulated 126.1 IP.
Hopefully he will make the jump to AAA to start the season, and he figures to remain in the rotation. But methinks his future will be in the bullpen as a long reliever. But I would not say he cannot start or become a late inning high leverage reliever. It may not be with the Dodgers, but he is getting noticed. He is Rule 5 eligible.
Chris Campos is SO COMPETITIVE, he'd strike out his own mom…Then he'd promise to buy her a Porsche as soon as he signs his 1st Major League contract! In case you're wondering….I'm being serious! #dodgers #dodgersprospects pic.twitter.com/sds0wgS4WY
— Dodgers Daily (@dodger_daily) March 10, 2026
Nice win tonight. Tucker, Teo and Tibbs III went yard. Knack is pitching himself out of the rotation. Treinen did not allow a run, but he walked three and did a tightrope walk to get out of trouble. I love what I am seeing from Tibbs except he strikes out a ton. 17 Ks in 37 at bats and just 1 walk. USA squeaks by Canada, 5-3 and they will play Machado and the Dominican team on Sunday in Miami. Skenes will get the start and needs to be on his game. Kim will be returning to camp after hitting just .083 in the WBC.
Henriquez with a very good outing too yesterday. Making a late push to be part of the pen.
I fear treinen is at the end ot it or very near.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It appears that I was premature with my comments on Edgardo Henriquez. I do not want to follow in those steps with Treinen.
There were will a bullpen surprise no doubt.
Derp
Tibbs looks like he’s ready to tear up minor league pitching but so what? The Dodgers won’t need a first baseman for a few years.
Kim has about a week to prove he can hit Major League pitching. He’s OPS’n 1.154 in ST so far. Keep it up Comet. No one in the organization cares about strike outs. For him it’s about getting on base a third of time. Get to first, steal second, score on a single.
Too bad about Freeland.
No matter who hits in the 9 hole the Dodgers should be an offensive force. On paper the pitching looks dominant. But other than Yamamoto paper appears to be what they are made of. Does anyone see 130 innings out of 2 through 8? May not matter. Yamamoto, Snell, Ohtani, Glasnow in October.
Fangraphs predictions have the Dodgers with 96 wins. I’ll take the over.
I’d definitely take the over this year, as i don’t anticipate as many injuries as we had in 2025.
Great stuff, Jeff. I’m rooting hard for him to make the show. I’m always liked his command, some of the best in the system. Type of guy we might trade at the deadline and he’ll stick around in the league for years. Hopefully we keep him and he makes his impact in a year or two. We always need arms.
He’s Pedro size. Hopefully Dodgers won’t need a second baseman.
Middle relief livea matter
😂
That had to be the worse trade the dodgers ever made
yep…
But how many of us thought so then?
As I recall it kind of flew under the radar at the time.
We needed a 2B and most thought getting DeShields was a good move at the time. I was not happy with the trade at the time because I had been to Vero Beach and liked Pedro and Ramon together on the Dodgers.
Blame that trade on Lasorda. He felt Pedro was too small to be an effective starter in the majors. Whoops.
Yep.
The physical profiling is often wrong. It’s weird to me when fans assume a big guy would be more durable than a small guy. Or that chubby guy like Alejandro Kirk should be in the stands selling beer.
Just checking in on who still wants the Dodgers to trade Teo? Knack and Miller need a fresh start somewhere else.
Miller is still rehabbing, what slim shot he had has evaporated. He would be better served in a different organization. Knack is homer prone and his ball just doesn’t move enough. Too many pitches that are hittable right in the zone.
He sure was persona non grata around here all winter, haven’t seen any post saying we should release him so we can play Ward, Rushing, Hope, or Depaula in LF lately😀
Not all of us. I wrote that I thought Teo would have a big year in 2026. He was off to a big year last year before his injury. I thought he came back way too early and never got healthy. If you look at his spray charts, Teo was a pull hitter early in his career. In 2021 he began going oppo a lot more and he made his first All Star year. He continued with the oppo hitting until 2025. Do not know what impact the injury had to do with more pull approach (maybe too much RVS in his ear). But this Spring from the first game, Teo has been going to RF a lot more, and the results show.
I agree
If Muncy and Teo remain healthy all year, this could be an all time great team!
Srsly
Italy, who knew?
Chi sa?
Italy beats Puerto Rico 8-6 in Quarterfinals. It looks like Edwin Diaz will be joining Hyeseong Kim this weekend back with the Dodgers. Kim will be starting one of the split squad games on SUnday.
Diaz hit 99 but was sitting 97 with his fastball. Let a few pitches get away armside. Stuff is live.
Seems like his slider & changeup are the same speed with different shape
I’m now a Chris Campos fan. Good to know he’s local, and also a bit undersized.
But so is Yamamoto.
He’s been lurking, playing well, and it seems like this could be a breakthrough season for him.
Yamamoto’s not local 😉
What? You never heard of Little Tokyo??
Venezuela takes the lead. I hope they win. Get Yamamoto and Ohtani back in Dodger camp.
Yep. Bring the boys back home.
“I hope they win.”
Me too.
Venezuela is stacked
3 more outs
Thank you Venezuela for getting revenge for the USA, and sending home Yamamoto and Ohtani
I would imagine that the USA would have preferred to get their own revenge.
But it looks like Bear had it right all along. He said that Yoshi would be headed to Camelback after he pitched tonight. And now Shohei will be keeping him company.
Blame Yahoo sports for that report. Venezuela was loaded for Bear and after Yoshi left the game, the Nippon bullpen imploded.
Tonight’s DR/USA game will be spectacular. I cannot wait!
DR by a lot. They care.
You think the US players don’t care? I think you are sadly mistaken. They care a lot and they have been embarrassed by their performance so far.
I believe it will be a tight game for as long as Skenes is on the mound. After that, who knows. USA has not played great situational baseball.
Skenes goes 4?
I think the max pitches tonight is 75. He could go 5 if he is efficient and gets quick outs.US has to score early this time.
Split squad games today. Main game will be at Camelback against the Rangers who put up 22 runs on the Padres yesterday. The other squad travels to Mesa to play the Cubs. Yoshi, Ohtani, headed back to Arizona after Japan loss to Venezuela. USA plays the Dominican tonight.
ipad has Dodgers at Cubs on the Cubs network, and tv has the Rangers at Dodgers on SNLA
DR got hosed. That was ball 4. ABS is needed for that Series too.
Karma for all the early celebrating
Horrible call. I bet they will have it for the next WBC.
Ball wasn’t even close. Terrible way to end a semi final.
I agree. Bet they do too.
There were bad calls on both sides, that called third strike to Smith i the 9th was inside. Great defense from both teams. But the Dominican did not lose the game because of that one call. The lost because they did not take advantage of the opportunities, they had late in the game.
Over-celebrating a 2nd inning lead
Fun game! Best on best. Is Skubal back for final?
Suwinski with a 3-run BOMB in his first spring AB against the Cubs.
subjective: existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought
ojective: not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased:
If baseball insists on putting the strike on tv, for millions of people to see, then it’s imperative to use ABS on any and all calls, ESPECIALLY those that affect outcomes.
On check swings Rick Monday keeps referring to the rule book saying “if the batter attempts to swing”. That’s subjective. I’ve read the rule book more than a few times and I disagree with Monday on that one. As a former umpire, working from Little League to Legion to JC to Semi Pro, I was taught that if the bat passes through any part of the strike zone it’s a a strike. With the help of the first base umpire that call can be made objectively.
And pitch framing. Ask any umpire at any level and they will give you the same answer. Bullsh*t. The strike zone is over the plate. Where the catcher receives it has nothing to do with whether it’s a strike or not.
And lastly, all of us, old timers like me included, have to accept that AI is here to stay and it will only expand. Better get used to that fact. It’s there now for baseball to use it. Stop embarrassing yourself. Use it.