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Former Malden & Revere resident is the ONLY Malden pitcher ever to start an MLB game; 1 of only 3 Malden MLB hurlers
By Steve Freker
There have been two constants in the long and storied baseball career of Paul Campbell: He throws gas and he’s a fighter on the mound and in life.
Campbell is one of only three Malden residents — along with former Malden High Hall of Famers Kevin McGlinchy (1999, Atlanta Braves) and Rich Barker (1999, Chicago Cubs) — to ever pitch at Major League Baseball (MLB) and the only pitcher from Malden to ever start an MLB game, which he did on April 30, 2021, when he toed the mound for the Miami Marlins.
Campbell grew up in Malden and has also brought passion and self-motivation to the mound and that is why it should be no surprise to anyone who has followed Campbell’s now, nearly 10-year professional baseball career, that the fireballing righthander from Malden is “back on the bump” this summer. Campbell is now back at it, just one step away from a Major League Baseball callup, toiling with the Iowa Cubs at the Triple-A level at Principal Park in Des Moines. He signed on with the top Chicago Cubs affiliate, Iowa, in April this year, soon after MLB training camp ended.
Campbell marks 31st birthday with a return to the mound
Campbell marked his 31st birthday this past Sunday, July 26, with a second appearance back for the Iowa Cubs after a brief stop on the injury list from July 8 to July 15. He surrendered a pair of runs in one inning on two hits, striking out one.
For the season, Campbell has logged 16 appearances with 61 1/3 innings of mound work, starting nine games. He has a 1-5 overall win-loss record, with a 5.68 earned run average. Campbell’s strikeouts-to-walks ratio has been impressive this season, registering 54 Ks to just 26 bases on balls in his 61 1/3 innings of work.
Campbell has had a seesaw journey back to being a whisper of being back in the big leagues after reaching the ultimate, a 16-game stint at the Major League level with the Miami Marlins in the 2021 season, where he made one Major League start and logged 26 2/3 innings, with a 2-3 overall record and a 6.41 ERA. Once again he maintained a favorable strikeouts-to-walks number, punching our 26 big league hitters in the 26.2 innings and walking only 10.
He was the only Malden resident to ever start a game on an MLB mound
In MLB history, Campbell remains the only Malden resident to ever start a game on a Major League mound and one of just three to ever appear in a Major League game as a pitcher. Kevin McGlinchy (Atlanta, Tampa Bay, 1996-2002) and Rich Barker (Chicago Cubs, 1996-1999) only appeared in Major League relief roles in the late 1990s. No other Malden resident has ever pitched in the Major Leagues other than those three.
Storm clouds rolled in quickly for Campbell in his only Major League season, after three years in the minors. He got his first MLB start on Friday, April 30, 2021, but on Monday, May 3, it was announced that he was suspended for 80 games after testing positive for a PED, which meant forfeiting about half of his $570,350 MLB salary that season.
Campbell, a Rule 5 acquisition in December from Tampa Bay, at the time said he “never knowingly ingested the PED, or had even heard of it.”
“Due to the fact that I do not know the origin of how this substance has entered into my system, I currently have no viable defense,” Campbell said in a statement that was reported on ESPN. “I have unfortunately become one of the many athletes, across multiple sports, who are presenting themselves to the world and asking for members of the anti-doping world to help us find answers as to why this metabolite …ultimately costing them significant detours in their careers.”
Some setbacks detoured Campbell’s rise as a pro
Like a meteorite, Campbell’s first shot at the Major Leagues crashed to earth as his season ended with the suspension. As expected, by those who know him, the Malden product, who tossed missiles for the Malden Catholic Lancers from 2011-2014, came up off the mat and got right into the fray in a new season in the spring of 2022.
The Miami Marlins left him off the 40-man roster after spring training, but Campbell went unclaimed on waivers in the Rule 5 draft and he was assigned to Triple-A Jacksonville (Fla.). Once again the black clouds returned, as Campbell’s season lasted just two outings and only eight more innings before he had to leave a game with an elbow strain on April 8, 2022. The diagnosis got a lot more serious, when Campbell got the news his injury required season-ending, reconstructive elbow surgery, the “Tommy John” procedure. For the second consecutive season, Campbell’s baseball journey ended swiftly and unexpectedly.
The injury and subsequent Tommy John procedure forced him to miss the remainder of the 2022 season and all of 2023. Still, Campbell continued to make it clear he was not finished with his baseball journey.
Coming back from Tommy John, the Marlins stayed involved and signed Campbell to pitch with the Double-A Pensacola (Fla.) Blue Yahoos for the 2024 season. Campbell went on to pitch in 11 games, 10 of which were starts. During those games, he rolled to an impressive 5-1 mark with an ERA at 3.50. He struck out 42 and walked just 15 in an even 50 innings of work.
Somewhat surprisingly, after an effective post-Tommy John season with decent numbers, neither the Marlins nor other big league teams signed Campbell for 2025. In addition, the Malden native had to deal with the sudden passing of his number one fan and supporter throughout his career, his dad, Alan Campbell, in January 2025.
A stint for Mexican League’s historic Naranjeros for Campbell
A few months after the elder Campbell’s passing, the righty who grew up in Newland Street, Malden, and later, Revere, was on the move yet again, landing in the Mexican League, where he spent all of 2025 with the Naranjeros de Hermosillo baseball squad. Naranjeros (“Orange Growers”) are the New York Yankees of the Mexican League — the winningest franchise in Mexican League history — located in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. The state of Sonora, Mexico is located on the upper northeast corner of country, close to the U.S. border, near Tucson, Arizona. Campbell had mixed results, making a 3-1 record in seven appearances, with a 6.00 ERA in 30 innings, with 20 strikeouts and 15 walks.
Contemplating a return to Mexico, but hoping for a return to the MLB-affiliated level, Campbell got his wish when he signed with the Iowa Cubs in April this year. According to an online report, Dustin Riese, of CubsHQ.com, described the 2026 version of Campbell: “A five-pitch mix, Campbell leans heavily on his fastball/slider combination as those have been his go-to pitches from day one.
“When it comes to the heater, Campbell isn’t going to blow you away, as his heater averages just under 93 MPH. With that comes an 88 MPH slider and an 81 MPH curve, as those three pitches account for more than 90% of his total offerings.”
“Campbell has started incorporating some of his other pitches into his sequencing on the mound, using an 86 MPH changeup 7% of the time and a 92 MPH sinker sparingly,” Riese wrote.
Early years in Malden and as a Malden Catholic Lancer
Campbell drew attention the first time he ever stepped on a baseball field in Malden, first as a member of the Dolphins, winning a Malden Little League title with Kenny Mazonson, then starring with Deano Summers’ Flames in Malden Babe Ruth League. He was one of the few ninth-graders to ever pitch at the varsity level in Catholic Conference history for the Malden Catholic Lancers in the 2010 season. By 2011, as a sophomore for Head Coach Steve Freker’s squad, he was a mainstay on the Malden Catholic pitching staff, along with another future professional pitcher, then Malden Catholic senior Paul Covelle (Seattle Mariners, 2016). After he graduated from Malden Catholic in 2013, he went on to make a loaded Salisbury School (Conn.) team even better, as a postgraduate pitcher, as it was regarded as one of the best ever in Founders League history.
Campbell went on to have three solid years at ACC power Clemson University, eventually signing with the American League Tampa Bay Rays after being selected in the 21st round. Three minor league seasons with the Rays followed before the Miami Marlins plucked Campbell in the Rule 5 draft in 2019. The kid from Malden and Revere then saw a big goal realized with his Major League debut in 2021 and continues to chase his dream to this day with the Iowa Cubs.
