Vaughn Grissom’s career began with a bang as a Fenway Park visitor. Now the promising young infield prospect will be calling Fenway his home as he hopes to take his career to the next level with the Red Sox.
Although he had anticipated being traded by the Atlanta Braves at the beginning of the offseason, Grissom thought he was in the clear after several months had quietly passed.
“It was pretty surprising, honestly,” said Grissom, who on his 23rd birthday Friday met with reporters via Zoom for the first time since last week’s trade. “To be honest, I thought I had gotten this far so I was OK. I don’t know if something’s gonna happen. … I got the call and you know it just happened — it happens quick, that’s what I learned.”
Grissom couldn’t help but smile as he recalled his memorable major league debut on Aug. 10, 2022. In his third at-bat in the top of the seventh with the Braves leading 3-1, Grissom made his first big league hit an unforgettable one as he launched a two-run homer off Boston reliever Darwinzon Hernandez.
“It’s pretty funny how full circle happens, just the baseball world circles back,” he said. “It’s really fun, the stadium is obviously the first one that I’d played in, seen and it was just like I was in a dream state.”
Not only was his first hit and homer a Green Monster shot — his 412-foot blast cleared the Monster with ease. It was a no-doubter that Grissom celebrated with a smooth bat flip. At a point when the Red Sox were well on their way to a second last-place finish in there years, Grissom’s big moment was serenaded by a healthy number of visiting Braves fans.
After the game, a grinning Grissom described the moment to myself and other reporters in the clubhouse: “It’s pretty surreal … just, what a moment. To see it like actually go out was really… I was like ‘oh my gosh.’”
Grissom finished the day 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored in Atlanta’s 8-4 win. While most of his playing time with the Braves over his first two seasons came at shortstop, Grissom’s major league journey began with a start that night at second base — where Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow says he envisions Grissom everyday.
Grissom offered up that he’s happy to play wherever he’s needed to help the team win.
“I have a pretty good recollection of what everything feels like and looks like from second-base standpoint,” he said. “So it was pretty cool just to obviously get the call and get the call from a team like that where you know everything started for me.”
Part of the story of Grissom’s arrival in Boston involved the departure of a World Series-winning icon. Grissom recognizes that and acknowledge it factors into his appreciation for the opportunity.
“With Chris Sale, I knew that he did big things — big is an understatement, but he did amazing things for the city of Boston, obviously for the Red Sox,” he said. “Just to be able to get a shot like that is out of this world. If you would have told me as a child that I was going to get a shot with the Boston Red Sox by the time I was 23, I would flip out. It’s obviously just an amazing honor.”
At 23 and entering his third big league campaign, Grissom knows there’s a lot of work to be done across the board.
He’s ready to embrace that challenge.
“Man, everyone asks what can you do better. I think I can improve on everything,” he said. “Defensively, offensively, there’s not a nitpick that I’m gonna choose this or that.”
Grissom has shown a knack for hitting in the early stages of his career with a .287 batting average in 64 career games to build off an impressive .320 average across his four minor league seasons.
While his first hit rightly gets most of the attention that night, Grissom had another hit too — a single to left in the ninth — that led to an extra insurance run. He also recorded his first career stolen base of second off a Boston battery of Kaleb Ort and Kevin Plawecki.
Even thought both of his hits went to left, the-right-handed Grissom insists he’s capable of being more than just a pull hitter.
“Everything has to come back to staying up the middle, the other way and then letting the pull side pop come, especially with the wall — try not to get too focused on the wall,” Grissom said.
But hey, if a few more balls find their way out to the Green Monster, Grissom certainly isn’t going to be disappointed…
“I will say in my minor league career, I enjoy hitting with the big wall in left,” Grissom said after raising both his hands to make a point. “I’ve enjoyed hitting there in Greenville and then at the replica, I’ve played at JetBlue quite a while growing up in Florida.”
Grissom’s proficiency as a contact hitter bodes well for his potential to become a top-of-the-lineup hitter for these Red Sox. But if he is able to develop the aforementioned pop — something he showed some flashes of in hitting 32 homers in his minor league career — he could certainly become an anchor of the offense for years to come.
Hey, according to the Red Sox’s website, Grissom has already selected his number… and it’s Nomar Garciaparra’s old number 5.
Grissom’s positional versatility gives the team options, especially as Trevor Story ages and faces the potential of being moved to second base or DH. Marcelo Mayer obviously factors to be the shortstop of the future, but if Grissom blossoms quickly, who knows? Plans could certainly change in a hurry…
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