Even with all of the possible avenues that Dylan Campbell could've taken as an athlete, there was never any doubt his path was destined to lead to a baseball diamond.

The star of the 2025 iteration of the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, Campbell excelled under the renowned Friday Night Lights of Texas high school football. The Houston native propelled Strake Jesuit to a 10-3 record as he rushed for 1,569 yards and 21 touchdowns as a senior in 2019, all against the highest level of competition (6A) in the Lone Star State.

Campbell was similarly elite as a high school baseball star, ranking in the top 50 of prospects in the state. With that level of pedigree, he naturally received offers to play both sports in college. But there was never a doubt in his mind that his sole pursuit would be America's pastime.

"It just being my first love and being the game that I started off playing from a young age," Campbell said. "I played football as well, but I think it was always baseball for me. I thought I was better at it. I had more fun playing it. Even though football was really fun, nothing beats a Friday in Texas high school football."

A future in Major League Baseball might be one of the few things that gets the edge, and Campbell is well on his way to that goal. He's still a dynamic and versatile athlete even as he's confined to the one sport as a professional. At 5-feet-10 and 205 pounds, he possesses a compact power that helped him shine on the gridiron and evidently translates to the batter's box as a hitter with a penchant for hitting line drives. His current listed position is outfielder, but he made a game-winning defensive stop at second base on June 15 in a 5-4 victory over Aberdeen.

He leads the BlueClaws in RBIs with 33 and is tied for the team-high with seven home runs (since-promoted Carson DeMartini was the previous leader with eight). Earlier in that same series, he had a game-winning solo home run that broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the eighth as Jersey Shore won 2-1. His ability to deliver in high-leverage moments is not a coincidence, it's a theme.

"It's just like wanting to be in that moment," Campbell said. "You're coming up to bat, you're in the hole, you're on deck, and you kind of see the situation shaping out to coming up with runners in scoring position. So it's just like embracing that moment and being selfish in a good way. Like, who doesn't like to get RBIs?"

His stats reflect how the 22-year-old enjoys those moments. While the notion of a clutch gene can often be dismissed as sports talk fodder, Campbell seems to be proof that it exists. As a sophomore at the University of Texas, he saved the Longhorns' season with a walk-off home run against East Carolina in the Super Regionals as the team was facing elimination. That moment instead galvanized the team as they won game three and advanced to the College World Series.

"That was kind of one thing that they really harped on was the winning culture (at Texas) is just different," Campbell said. "So it's not so much about what you're doing as an individual, it's more of like what you can do to help the team win that day. And just training yourself to be ready in those situations to help the team win."

The notion of clutch genetics isn't as outlandish considering both of Campbell's parents were athletes at Texas Southern, and his father Donovan played in the Atlanta Braves organization. His mother Andrea Odom is a prominent community figure in Houston, and helped launch the Dylan Campbell Foundation to help young baseball players in underserved communities.

The portrait of Campbell as a prospect has swiftly come into focus since he was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fourth round of the 2023 MLB Draft. He was the rare player to deliver more than 50 RBIs, 10 home runs and more than 40 stolen bases in his first season of High-A in the Dodgers organization. He's on a similar pace since joining thePhillies organization via trade in January.

With that kind of production, he may soon see a call up to Double-A. But for now, he's enjoying his first experience in the Northeast and a summer by the Jersey Shore. While he's still playing at ShoreTown, he's one of the team's standouts to watch this season. The BlueClaws will close out the month of June with a road series in Brooklyn before returning home to start July with three games against Wilmington.

"I hadn't been up to the Northeast pretty much at all honestly, up until this point," Campbell said. "Being around this area, it's still kind of new to me. So still exploring it, learning it and just trying to enjoy it."

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press:Dylan Campbell: Phillies prospect, BlueClaws star was 2-sport standout