WORCESTER – If anyone has walked a mile in the shoes of the four players joining the Red Sox organization this week from the Rafael Devers trade, it’s Vaughn Grissom.
Like them, he is, through no fault of his own, irrevocably linked to a franchise legend. The Red Sox acquired him right before New Year’s 2024, when they sent Chris Sale to the Atlanta Braves.
“That was pretty crazy,” Grissom told the Herald of the Devers trade, which he and his WooSox teammates found out after boarding the bus to return to Worcester from a series with the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley. “I saw it on my feed and I thought, that’s probably nothing, probably fake. And then I saw it again, so I poked up my head, kind of like a gopher, and I’m like, ‘Hey guys!’ Everyone was like, ‘No way.’
“It was very surprising. I mean, he’s the heartbeat – he was the heartbeat of the city and of this team. He hit the homers. So it was shocking.”
Grissom hasn’t been up with the big-league club this season, but he’s in touch with some of his teammates like Triston Casas, with whom he formed an immediate bond last year.
“Obviously, I’m not there, but I’ve heard that the distractions were there, and that there was a vocalized difference, I guess would be the word,” Grissom said of the atmosphere amidst the months-long saga surrounding Devers’ position. “They went the route that they went.”
Sale was the second-to-last remaining 2018 champion, and Devers was the last vestige of glory. Now that everyone from that historic roster is gone, too, Grissom isn’t sure who will fill his shoes.
“When you think of the Red Sox, I think you think of Rafael Devers,” Grissom said. “So I don’t know who’s going to carry that charge now. I’m sure there’s some candidates, but you know, you have to perform in this city.
“You have to do what the city loves, and that’s to hit baseballs far and win. So I definitely think that there’s gonna be a change, like an energy shift or whatever. But someone’s going to step up.”
After the trade, Sale proceeded to finally complete the comeback season he hadn’t been able to achieve in Boston. With the ‘24 Braves he was an All-Star for the first time since ‘18 and became a Cy Young winner at last. He’s having a stellar spring this year, too.
Grissom, meanwhile, has spent most of his Red Sox tenure in Triple-A Worcester. He appeared in 31 games for the big-league team last season, but only hit .190 with a .465 OPS, 20 hits, including three doubles and 24 strikeouts. With the WooSox this season, he entered Thursday batting .262 with a .725 OPS, 61 hits, 14 doubles, five home runs, 24 walks and 51 strikeouts in 61 games.
This week, he became teammates with left-hander Kyle Harrison, a fellow former National Leaguer who’s been on a somewhat parallel journey.
Grissom debuted with the Braves in ‘22, and played between 23 and 41 games in each of the last three seasons. Harrison debuted with the Giants in ‘23 and has pitched in 39 career games, including 25 starts. Both found themselves blocked from their positions at times before their respective trades, and now have to fight for a spot on their new organization’s big-league roster.
When Grissom first reported to Red Sox spring training last winter, the organization expected him to be their new everyday second baseman. Injuries quickly derailed that plan. He was optioned to Triple-A to begin this season, and has watched several top prospects get the call over him.
“They’re super talented,” he said of Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony, who made their MLB debuts in late May and early June.’ “I became pretty close with those guys and it was actually really fun to watch them grow and show their talents. They’re two incredible players. They’re going to be playing up there for what I think will be a long time.”
As for himself?
“I’m feeling pretty good, just surviving,” Grissom said. “I feel like when my time comes, I’ll be ready. … It can be frustrating sometimes, but like I said, there’s nothing I can really do.”
