Young Infielder Could Be In Store For Breakout Red Sox Season

The Red Sox need to improve their infield defense, and Vaughn Grissom could provide that help.

Boston acquired Grissom last year from the Braves for Chris Sale. Atlanta benefitted from the trade in the short term as Sale had one of the best seasons of his career and won the National League Cy Young. On the other hand, Grissom dealt with injuries and only played 31 games for the Red Sox.

Manager Alex Cora noted it was a “mulligan” year for Grissom, which highlighted the team’s belief in the 23-year-old. At the MLB winter meetings, NESN’s Tom Caron spoke to The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham who offered interesting insight on Grissom.

“When the Red Sox were in Anaheim, I sat with Ron Washington on the bench and I said, ‘Tell me about Vaughn Grissom.’ And the first thing he said, ‘This guy’s going to be a really good big league hitter,'” Abraham told Caron on NESN’s “310 To Left” podcast. “And Ron Washington, he’s not a fake praise guy. He will tell you what he thinks in terms we probably couldn’t say on the air. And then I talked to Brian Snitker during spring training, and I said, ‘What do you think of Vaughn Grissom?’ He’s a plain-spoken guy, and he said, ‘He’s going to be a really good player and we were sorry to give him up. We felt getting Chris Sale back was important for us, and we made this trade, but we didn’t want to give him up.’ And he kind of intimated that he tried to give the Red Sox other guys the Red Sox didn’t want.”

The Red Sox are linked to multiple free agents and trade targets, so Grissom’s role with Boston is up in the air heading into spring training. However, he will be a player to watch out for once February rolls around.

To hear more of Caron’s conversations at the MLB winter meetings on “310 To Left,” you can listen on YouTube or Spotify.