The Atlanta Braves surprised some in the baseball world with their decision to send shortstop Vaughn Grissom back down to Triple-A last week. The move leaves Grissom off of Atlanta's Opening Day roster, but Grissom doesn't seem to be too fazed by it.
Speaking with Atlanta sports reporters at Gwinnett Stripers media day, Grissom ended his session with a “see you soon” promise, according to Kelly Price.
Grissom was expected to be the front-runner for the starting shortstop job entering spring training after the Braves lost Dansby Swanson in free agency. Grissom showed promise at the plate, hitting for a .371 average in 36 at-bats this spring. He's also shown that he can hit major league pitching, as he sported a .291 average in 141 at-bats after being called up in mid-August last season.
The problem is Grissom's glove. In just 40 games in the MLB last season, Grissom had a -4.1 defensive WAR according to FanGraphs. Shortstop is not a position a team can afford to have a bad fielder at, even if he is an above-average hitter.
The Braves instead have decided to make veteran Orlando Arcia their starting shortstop to begin the season. Despite being a career .243 hitter, Arica has a 7.4 career FanGraphs dWAR.
The Braves have a stacked lineup regardless of who they play at shortstop, so sacrificing Grissom's bat for Arcia's glove makes sense.
This certainly isn't the end of the road for Vaughn Grissom in Atlanta. The Braves still likely view Grissom as their everyday shortstop of the future. With a little fine-tuning in the field, Grissom will be back up in the bigs sooner or later.
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