FORT MYERS, Fla. – It looks like being the brand new child at school, Vaughn Grissom stated of his first offseason and spring coaching with the Red Sox.
“It’s been awesome,” he informed the Herald on Saturday. “It’s definitely a new group, so it’s different, but it’s everything I expected it to be, so it’s pretty cool.”
What’s totally different, in addition to the plain: location, teammates, uniform? His new supervisor’s management model, for one factor.
“He’s cool,” Grissom stated of Alex Cora. “He’s definitely different than (Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker). He’s more vocal, he’ll say things like that.”
“That” can be Cora asserting to the media that he’s going to get each probability to be the on a regular basis second baseman. Grissom heard about it by the grapevine, then instantly went again to enterprise as normal.
“I don’t take none of it to heart, I don’t try to lean on any of that,” Grissom responded. “I still gotta go and get mine. Nothing’s given.”
As he grew up and commenced his skilled profession, he most regarded as much as Ben Zobrist, who spent 14 years enjoying second base, shortstop, and right-field within the Majors and received a World Series with the 2016 Chicago Cubs, and profession Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, who’s coming into his 14th season in San Francisco.
“I know (Zobrist) played kind of, everywhere, but for the most part he was in the infield,” stated Grissom. “Also Crawford was a big guy for me. But I would definitely put Ben Zobrist up there. He’s a sleeper (pick).”
Grissom amassed 64 profession big-league video games over the earlier two seasons with the Braves. He hit pretty nicely – .287 with a .746 OPS – however was blocked from beginning jobs by a Braves infield already loaded with expertise. Thus, he got here to be the commerce return for Chris Sale simply earlier than the brand new 12 months.
At first, the gravity of being exchanged for the pitcher who completed off the 2018 World Series and meant a lot to the group didn’t actually register.
“I didn’t even really think about it when it first happened,” Grissom stated. “I hope this doesn’t get taken the wrong way, but I didn’t even realize, didn’t even think about the Chris Sale thing. Just that I got traded, didn’t I? Obviously people were like, ‘Oh, you got traded for Chris Sale!”
“It doesn’t really matter,” he continued, “You still gotta earn your job, you still gotta earn your keep around here. You can get traded for anything, and you can still (expletive) the bed.”
He started the efforts to earn his hold early. Within the primary month after the commerce, he attended Trevor Story’s mini-camp in Texas, Red Sox Rookie Development Program in Boston, and Winter Weekend.
“It’s a new group, so we definitely gotta gel together,” he stated. “That happens naturally, that’s not something that comes from like, we’re just together. It’s a camaraderie thing, we gotta get together.”
Beginning to construct a relationship with Story instantly was a precedence.
“To be able to meet Story early on, it definitely is super valuable,” Grissom stated. “He’s a veteran on this team and he has the experience and the knowledge. It’s super important for someone like me to pick his brain.”
As if on cue, Story walked by on his method to his spot a number of lockers away.
“Trevor, what’s the biggest thing I learned from you so far?” Grissom requested the shortstop.
“How to grow a beard,” Story cracked again.
“He told me I gotta turn 30 to grow a beard and get the bicep veins,” the 23-year-old stated with a smile.
Despite arriving at spring coaching having already met a number of of his new teammates, being a brand new man continues to be an unlimited adjustment.
“It’s kind of weird,” Grissom admitted. “But everything you do is brand-new to everyone, so you can choose who you want to be and ride with it.”
Who does he need to be? “I want to be him,” he stated with a chuckle, referring to Triston Casas, with whom he shaped a direct bond at Story’s camp.
“I just met him last week, but I feel like I’ve known him for years,” Casas informed the Herald throughout Rookie Development Program. “We got along really well… My first impression of him is that I find a lot of my qualities or my personality in him.I think we’re pretty similar personality-wise. I think we have a similar sense of humor. I think he has a lot of characteristics similar to mine in terms of work ethic, thought process, how to go about at-bats and in-game stuff, on the field as well as off the field.”
“Me and Casas really hit it off out there,” Grissom agreed. Then, he defined that with out night understanding it, they’d had a “deeper” connection way back.
“My family knew his family before I did,” he stated. “His grandma is like, one of my grandma’s sister’s godmother. Our family really knows each other. My cousin is like, his lawyer. It goes pretty deep.”
What’s extra, Grissom’s grandmother truly met his new supervisor earlier than he did.
“My grandma’s sister got inducted into the Hall of Fame in Puerto Rico for basketball, and Cora was there, in the ceremony as well,” he stated. (Cora was additionally inducted final 12 months.) “My grandma, I don’t even know, she just grew a pair and went over like, I’m gonna go talk to this guy. So they talked like a month before, and then I get traded to him and she’s like, ‘Oh yeah, I already know him!”
“She’s basically the coolest, she can do it all,” he added. “She would make the atmosphere a little bit better here. She’s the best, everyone can rally around her.”
That Grissom went from a Braves staff constructed to be a perennial contender to a Red Sox staff projected to complete in final place once more isn’t actually on his radar. He’d like followers to provide them an opportunity, maybe allow them to play not less than one spring coaching recreation – not less than the exhibition recreation towards Northeastern subsequent Friday – earlier than writing them off.
“Just trust the process,” he stated. “We’ll be there.”
Calling Fenway Park residence shall be a brand new expertise, however enjoying there received’t be. Grissom feels prefer it was virtually predetermined, future that the participant who made his Major League debut at Fenway Park two summers in the past – and did so with aplomb, hitting a towering residence run over the Green Monster – is now on the house staff.
“100-percent, it’s definitely a full-circle moment, that’s something you dream of,” he stated with a smile. “To be able to come back to the same spot where it all started, seems like I’m not in charge.”
He’s itching to hit one other one.
“Hopefully, it goes the same way.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com