The Red Sox wrote off Year 1 of the Chris Sale trade sometime around April. But it may not be a total loss in the long term, as Vaughn Grissom illustrated on Tuesday.
The player the Red Sox expected to be their everyday second baseman in 2024 has instead endured a miserable season. A hamstring injury wiped out spring training, an illness set back his rehab, and then another hamstring strain applied the knockout blow. He just kind of scuffled along at Triple-A for months, and when he hit a ball hard, it was literally news.
Needless to say, this isn't the player the Red Sox thought they were getting when they traded a seven-time All-Star who's now the overwhelming favorite to claim the National League Cy Young Award and pitching triple crown with the Braves. Add the emergence of prospect Kristian Campbell as a consensus Minor League Player of the Year, and Grissom suddenly finds his footing on the organizational depth chart shaky at best.
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That's why this last week of this season is so important. Grissom received a surprise promotion on Friday after outfielder Rob Refsnyder landed on the injured list, and he appears intent on making the most of it.
On Tuesday, he delivered his first multi-hit game in a Red Sox uniform, going 3 for 4 with an RBI in a 6-5 win over the Blue Jays that helped the Red Sox stave off postseason elimination for one more day. He hit three rockets, including a double off the top of the left field fence that was nearly his first home run of the season, as well as an RBI single in the 10th that broke the game open.
Vaughn adding on. 👊 pic.twitter.com/nXzXoIIBfS
— Red Sox (@RedSox) September 25, 2024
When Grissom reflects on this season, the numbers won't be pretty. He's batting .172 with a .421 OPS and a negative WAR. But he still believes he learned a useful lesson about himself and overcoming failure that will pay off next year.
"I finally got to see the other side," Grissom told The Boston Globe. "I didn't run into a lot of adversity growing up or coming through the system, at least with Atlanta. There was never a point where I was down about struggling.
"So going through this little spurt this year was I think the best thing that could happen for me, because now I understand what it's like to fail and how to dig yourself out of a hole. Figuring that out is, I think, the best thing that could have happened to me, because I know how to get myself out of a hole. I think it's a great thing for my career."
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The Red Sox can only hope he's right.
Still only 23 years old, Grissom is actually the youngest player to take the field for Boston this year, born three months after super utility man Ceddanne Rafaela. Considering that he entered the season with a .320 lifetime average in the minors, and that he looked like yet another future home run from Atlanta's vaunted player development system when he debuted in 2022 with a home run at Fenway Park and a .792 OPS, it's too soon to label him a lost cause.
An encouraging finish, even if it's only a handful of games, could help set his mind right for the offseason. And even if the Red Sox never out-and-out win the Sale trade, maybe one day it won't be such a bloodbath.
"Super confident," Grissom told the Globe when asked about his outlook for 2025. "Super excited, too. I love this game, and I'm going to give it everything I've got until the wheels fall off."