Coming into the season, there were major concerns regarding the Braves shortstop position. Dansby Swanson departed for Chicago in free agency, and Vaughn Grissom failed to win the job out of Spring Training because of his defense, leaving the veteran Orlando Arcia to assume the duties.
However, through six games, many of those concerns have been eased. Arcia has been outstanding for the Braves. Defensively, he’s played like a Gold Glove shortstop, and his OPS is well above .800. I’m not sure if he will come close to keeping up this kind of offensive pace, but his defense alone makes him valuable. The Braves should feel plenty comfortable giving Grissom as many reps as he needs in Gwinnett, where he is destroying baseballs early in the season.
Through four games with the Stripers, Vaughn Grissom is batting .500, and five of his eight hits have gone for extra bases, including two triples and a home run. He’s major-league ready offensively. It’s his defense that is the concern at shortstop, but even if that isn’t fixed overnight, the Braves will need to find a place for his offense on the major-league roster.
On the latest episode of SportsTalkTL, Chase Irle and Jake Gordon discuss the performances of Arcia and Grissom, and whether Grissom could be used as a left fielder or DH in the future.
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Photo: John Adams/Icon Sportswire
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