Vaughn Grissom has been sort of a walking question mark for the Atlanta Braves. It seems like every chance he has been giving to play at the MLB level has been due to injury, whether it was for Orlando Arcia at shortstop or now filling in at second base during Ozzie Albies’ IL stint.
Back in late July, Grissom was a likely trade candidate for Atlanta. The Braves were eyeing some back-end bullpen help and potentially starting pitching for the right price.
Thankfully, Alex Anthopoulos held on to Grissom. However, this time in the majors for Vaughn is going to look different than his past experiences. He will be splitting time with Nicky Lopez who has already proved he is a great assest to this ball club.
The question this arises is “what can we really expect from Grissom?” He is a career .270 hitter in the big leagues and seems to always be on base. Now that he is splitting time, instead of owning an every day spot this go-around, it may be a little more difficult for him to get in a rhythm at the plate.
Grissom’s defense has always been the obstacle standing in his way of a permanent MLB roster spot.
The point is to not to expect Grissom to hit .400 in his time with the big league club or make highlight reel caliber plays with the glove. Orlando Arcia and Ozzie Albies have the middle infield on lockdown when healthy and Grissom will not take that away from them.
However, what we can expect Grissom to do when he sees playing time is to collect a hit or two in the 9 spot in the order and make routine plays. The most important thing to understand is that the growing pains from Grissom right now is helpful to the Braves. As long as he does not become a liability, he’s doing his job by buying time for Albies return.