The Red Sox have finally made some roster cuts. Some haven’t come as a surprise, but one did come as a bit of a shock and it raises some questions. The Red Sox are in the midst of having a competition for their second baseman position and they’ve managed to trim down the bush a bit. The Red Sox have made Vaughn Grissom one of their roster cuts and he’s been optioned to Worcester (Triple-A).

It does make you wonder if this is a player that has a future with this roster and on this team given the amount of depth the organization has.

The Red Sox Infield Depth

Now I am not here as an expert and I am not on the front lines. I am also not a reporter, but come as a die hard Red Sox fan and it dawned on me as to where Vaughn Grissom fits in the Red Sox puzzle.

When you take a swan dive into the Red Sox infield, the competition is between Kristian Campbell and also having David Hamilton in the fold as well. Campbell seems to be the favorite for the position. This is a player that took the minor leagues by storm and even won minor league player of the year.

As for David Hamilton, you know what you are getting with this player and he is the perfect utility bat and also second baseman for the Red Sox. Hamilton was the best defensive second baseman last season, while also being a weapon on the base paths with his 33 stolen bases.

A move nobody saw coming was Alex Cora having Marcelo Mayer playing second base as well in order to create versatility and simply find a pathway for the young player to play. For a player that has played zero games at the Triple-A level, he has looked very comfortable this Spring Training. Mayer is hitting .355 with a 1.025 OPS, and has drove in ten runs.

When you truly look at it, all of these players are ahead of Grissom. What’s the pathway for him now?

The Path for Grissom

When the initial trade went down for Vaughn Grissom in exchange for Chris Sale it made sense. Sale was not healthy and a change of scenery was best for him overall. Yes the Red Sox funded his deal for the 2024 season and he won the CY Young, but it did appear they took a page out of the Steve Cohen playbook to land a better prospect.

Grissom was definitely a player to like. In his major league debut in 2022, he had five home runs and 18 RBI’s in 41 games. He was also hitting .291 and slugging .440 in that same span. There was some pop in his bat and it was worth exploring. However, it hasn’t necessarily panned out for the Red Sox.

2024 was tough for him due to injuries and he was never able to find rhythm. He spent most of the 2024 season in Triple-A and was hitting .258 and with a .758 OPS. The goal for Grissom with the wide open vacancy for the second base position was for him to take the next steps in his young career.

Grissom put in the work this offseason. Hitting coach Pete Fatse went on to say that he put on the work physically and you can visually see that. However, that work that he put in didn’t translate to the plate.

In 34 at bats, Grissom was hitting .179 and .535 OPS. He didn’t hit a single home run and drove in three runs. Not exactly ideal for what you want to see from the player and Cora only tried him at second base.

So with little room on the roster and not a great showing, what’s next for Grissom?

Well, at this rate something very drastic needs to happen for him to sniff the field and see playing time. With all the guys ahead of him, it’s hard to envision where he would play and how he would fit into the fold. Forget the logjam at the second base position, the outfield is even more crowded and that’s not even including Roman Anthony.

There is no doubt that Grissom is going to do well in Triple-A and fine tune his craft as a big league player. But the writing could very well be on the wall for him as a whole and the Red Sox could look to package him in a trade at the deadline for pieces to immediately come in and upgrade the roster.

Time will tell, but the Vaughn Grissom era could be ending shorter than anticipated.