It's still shocking how well the Chris Sale trade has worked out for the Atlanta Braves. Sale has been everything fans could have hoped for and more. He won his first Cy Young Award in his first year with the team, and it's been smooth sailing since.
Considering how well it has worked out, it's hard to believe how little the cost was. Vaughn Grissom had shown the Braves a lot of promise leading up to the trade. However, when you have a shot at one of baseball's best pitchers, you go for it.
The Red Sox certainly expected Grissom to make a difference on the team. Unfortunately, he really struggled, and there was also a little bit of drama involved. There was also an issue with injuries during his time in Boston. Things went so poorly that the Red Sox traded Grissom to the Angels this offseason. It seemed that Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow felt that the former Braves prospect was blocked organizationally.
Breslow stated, “Vaughn is a great kid and a great player and still 24 years old, so I think that there's a bright future ahead of him. But just thinking about the way that our roster is coming together, the path to having an impact here is probably not super clear.”
Well, Breslow and the rest of Boston may soon regret their decision to move on from Grissom. It's already hard enough to lose a trade. But cutting loose the player you acquired in said trade and having them succeed elsewhere has to sting just as much.
Vaughn Grissom's return to clutch hitting will have the Red Sox pulling out their hair
Grissom's start to the 2026 season wasn't anything special. However, he has really found himself over the last week. He looks almost exactly like he did with the Braves, coming through in clutch situations.
VAUGHN GRISSOM GO-AHEAD GRAND SLAM! pic.twitter.com/u0OCfGiNns
— MLB (@MLB) May 27, 2026
Over the last seven games, Grissom is batting .280/.345/.480 with one homer (a go-ahead grand slam), two doubles, 11 RBI, two walks, four strikeouts, and an .825 OPS. He's hit so well lately that the Angels had him batting third in the lineup recently. On the season, Grissom is batting .237 with eight doubles, three homers, 24 RBI, 13 walks, and 14 strikeouts. This recent performance isn't a fluke either, as Grissom's analytics back up his performance.
Grissom has excelled in some key areas, such as average exit velocity (91.1 mph), hard-hit percentage (48.1), squared-up percentage (33.3), chase percentage (24.3), whiff percentage (20.0), and strikeout percentage (10.6). The only areas he has really struggled in are barrel percentage (6.7) and launch angle sweet spot percentage (30.8). Should he improve those things, the Angels will have found a fantastic addition to their roster.
Braves fans know the kind of player and person Grissom is. So, it's hard not to root for him to succeed. This could be the start of something great for the former Atlanta shortstop.
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