Grissom returns with something to prove
This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat e-newsletter. To learn the total e-newsletter, click on right here. And subscribe to get it often in your inbox.
When Vaughn Grissom rejoined Atlanta’s roster initially of this previous weekend’s collection in Kansas City, he expressed what he was feeling when he realized he had not received the beginning shortstop job and would start this season with Triple-A Gwinnett.
“I knew there was still some marinating to be done,” Grissom mentioned. “It felt good knowing I had done a decent enough job, but you can’t be just decent.”
With Orlando Arcia sidelined for at the least a pair weeks with a microfracture in his left wrist, Grissom goes to need to show he might be greater than only a respectable defensive shortstop. If he can achieve this, he’ll silence the critics who’ve puzzled whether or not he has the vary essential to be an on a regular basis shortstop on the huge league degree.
“That’s like part of every athlete’s dream is to prove everyone wrong,” Grissom mentioned.
It’s additionally a part of each athlete’s dream to return by means of within the clutch like Grissom did on Sunday, when he delivered a decisive go-ahead single within the ninth inning of a 5-4 win over the Royals. His opposite-field single allowed the Braves to finish a three-game sweep and lengthen their profitable streak to 6 video games.
It’s good to see Grissom’s vitality again inside the Atlanta clubhouse.
Quite truthfully, he was positioned in a tricky place previously few months. Though it appeared like the chances had been in opposition to him breaking camp as Atlanta’s beginning shortstop, many media shops tabbed him as the favourite through the winter months and caught with that storyline deep into Spring Training. It appeared just like the narrative ought to have been at the least subdued sooner than it was.
With that being mentioned, Grissom dealt with the demotion in knowledgeable and efficient method. Instead of sulking, he hit .366 with a 1.044 OPS over 48 plate appearances for Gwinnett.
“I was having success, but we weren’t winning,” Grissom mentioned. “That’s the main thing. We had a couple guys that were playing well, but we weren’t stringing it together. So, I have mixed feelings or mixed emotions with that.”
The jury continues to be out on Grissom as an on a regular basis shortstop. But feedback like this mixed with moments like final 12 months’s remaining common season at-bat (seven consecutive two-strike fouls with two outs within the ninth inning of a sport that didn’t have an effect on the playoff standings) create additional cause to assume he’s certainly the form of man you need filling some position in your workforce.
