The Red Sox week in review dives into Vaughn Grissom, Cooper Criswell, and the power outage.
We’ve got ourselves a good ol’ fashioned good news-bad news scenario as we begin the first full week of May, folks.
The bad news first, because it’s always best to get the bad news out of the way: the Red Sox weren’t able to finish last week’s slate with a record north of .500, as one loss at the hands of the Gigantes paired with dropping the series in Minnesota resulted in a 3-3 mark since you last heard from me here.
The good news: the Celtics and Bruins are cooking, meaning that we’ve still some time before mediocre weeks like these really start to bug us! Hey, it could be worse: you could be Justin Bieber.
For real though: not a banner week for Boston baseball, although a bit of that can be chalked up to running into a red-hot Twins club at the wrong time. That’s baseball, Suzyn. Sometimes you play the hottest team in the league.
It was encouraging to see the Sox keep the good times rolling at Fenway earlier in the week against San Francisco, though. After a rocky start to the home schedule, they’ve won their last two serieseseseseses at America’s Most Beloved Ballpark by way of a 4-2 record. They’ve outscored opponents 34-16 in those six games…but don’t ask me if one of those games included a 17-0 blowout. The golden rule for blogging is that you only use stats that support your agenda, duh.
As we move closer towards the summer, taking advantage of chances to win at home could be pivotal for the Red Sox’s aspirations. This is the same club that won just 39 of their 81 home games a year ago. If they can remain fairly competitive on the road while continuing to make progressive strides at Fenway, that’ll go a long way towards possibly seeing meaningful baseball past Labor Day.
All of that is to say: the Red Sox gotta shake off this rough series against a tough Minnesota team, lock in and hang tough with another tough squad in Atlanta, and get ready for a set of winnable games at the Fens against Washington and Tampa Bay. If they can’t…well, at least we have the B’s and C’s, right guys? Right?????
It’s Monday Morning Brushback time, y’all.
Vaughn’s Back On
A hearty hello to middle infielder Vaughn Grissom, who made his official Red Sox debut on Friday!
After being acquired in the offseason from those aforementioned Bravos in exchange for Chris Sale’s services, Grissom projected to be a consistent presence in the Boston lineup in 2024—and perhaps far beyond that, given the fact that he’s still in his pre-arbitration era. As we all know, that plan had to be delayed: a left hamstring injury resulted in Grissom starting the new season on the injured list.
But that was then, and this is now. After notching 10 hits in 30 AB’s over in Worcester during a rehab stint, Grissom started in two of the three games against Minnesota over the weekend. There wasn’t anything to write home about about his offense in his first few plate appearances with Boston, but manager Alex Cora had enough faith to bat him fifth against righty Billy from Stranger Things Joe Ryan on Sunday. Maybe that’s just a result of the circumstances regarding the rest of the roster’s health, but that’s not nothin’.
And hey: his first hit in a Sox uniform was a double that broke open the game on Sunday! A clean piece of hittin’ to the opposite power alley with a silky smooth bat flip to boot, you love to see it.
WELCOME TO THE RED SOX VAUGHN GRISSOM! pic.twitter.com/3n1VTNEOyE
— Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) May 5, 2024
So, what could we get out of our pal in the infield going forward? The sample size in his MLB career is small (he hasn’t even logged 250 plate appearances yet), but his OPS+ in 2022 and 2023 combined was 102, which is right around the league average. His triple slash in that abbreviated time was .287/.339/.407. That’s not eye-popping, but he’s shown a few flashes of having legit juice with the bat. His max exit velos have topped 107 MPH and his expected slugging metric is at around .400 during his young career, according to Savant.
He demonstrated that offensive potential against the Red Sox in 2022, mind you!
Vaughn Grissom’s first big league homer came at Fenway.
That’s your new second baseman pic.twitter.com/kKQURrN0Tt
— Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) December 30, 2023
If there’s one thing I’d like to see more from Grissom on offense—outside of more consistent production with the stick—is better plate discipline. He hasn’t displayed a lot of swing-and-miss in his profile to his credit, but a chase rate of around 35% thus far in MLB doesn’t exactly scream “amazing eye.” He can make contact, sure, but it’s not surprising to see that he only walks about 5% of the time compared to a roughly 20% K-rate.
As for the glove, it hasn’t been dazzling—quite the opposite at shortstop last season, actually, as he was good for -6 outs above average in just 19 games last year—but with time, maybe he could grow into a serviceable-enough of a second baseman. His scouting reports per MLB Pipeline touted his arm strength in years past, so I’m not sure how helpful that tool will be, but I just need him to be fine with the leather.
Still just 23 years old, Grissom has the opportunity to flourish into a steady player this year, especially if Cora continues to give him the nod at the keystone. Considering how topsy-turvy the roster’ has already been in 2024, the Red Sox are probably gonna need him to do just that over the next few months.
Coop Troop Stand Up
Hell of a week for Cooper Criswell, huh?
The righty’s ERA now on the year sits at 1.74 across 20.2 innings after a pair of great starts against San Fran and Minnesota. The former outing at Fenway saw him complete five frames with just a pair of hits and one free pass coughed up, which was good enough for the win. The latter, while not enough to register a decision, resulted in a sole earned run off a homer.
The obvious highlight from Sunday’s start was Criswell’s Houdini act in the second. After surrendering three consecutive hits, Cooper worked his way out of the jam with no damage to show for it. I love me a nice noble tiger, don’t you?
Cooper Criswell, YOU are a magician.
Bases loaded and no outs after 3 straight singles.
Castro strikeout. Santana strikeout. Miranda groundout. pic.twitter.com/4xedwZ0p9y
— Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) May 5, 2024
Just another gem developed by the king himself, Andrew Bailey. Where would we be without our new pitching overlord?
Criswell works out of the jam pic.twitter.com/i2kDC8OhGE
— Pod On Lansdowne (@PodOnLansdowne) May 5, 2024
I wasn’t entirely moved when Criswell was signed to a one-year deal this winter for $1 million, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who could say that. Reviews of the transaction at the time likely ranged from an indifferent “….hmm” to a fervent “….who?”
In hindsight, the fact that he spent time in the Tampa Bay pitching lab should’ve tipped me off that we had the potential for positive appearances on our hands. Y’know how some colleges are known for pumping out certain football players? Ohio State receivers, USC quarterbacks, Penn State linebackers, UMass salsa dancers, Boston University [POSITION NOT FOUND], etc.? The Rays are sorta like that with pitchers.
What I’ve particularly enjoyed while watching Criswell is his ability to mix up the offerings to keep hitters honest. The sinker, sweeper, changeup, and cutter have all gotten a fair amount of shine whenever he’s been on the mound. He’s changing speeds, hitting different locations for strikes, limiting walks, and tossing stuff with nasty movement to both the glove-side and the arm-side. Entering Sunday, his changeup has dropped with an average of 44.2 inches of vertical break—23% more than the league average—while his sweeper and sinker have boasted horizontal movement that breaks 18% and 13% more than the MLB average, respectively.
Cooper Criswell, K’ing the Side. pic.twitter.com/cqrmE2cI0H
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 30, 2024
As Nick Pivetta is seemingly set to return from the IL on Wednesday, something’s gotta give with the 26-man roster. Criswell, though, has done more than enough to earn his spot on the team for the foreseeable future, in my opinion. Whether he’s used as a swing guy, or a spot starter, or whatever: he’s gotta stick around.
Consider me a proud member of the Coop Troop.
(Cc @PalmerDesigns_) https://t.co/KwrJwN2Sa2 pic.twitter.com/xFPK0egNY5
— Fitzy Mo Peña (@FitzyMoPena) May 5, 2024
No One Team Should Have All That Power
So there I was on Sunday morning, still buzzing after watching a great Ice Bears win against Toronto. Happy as a clam.
Y’know what was a great way to knock me off of that cloud I was on? Seeing a tweet like this, unprompted.
home runs in the last 7 days pic.twitter.com/uid0XdcPVo
— Jay Cuda (@JayCuda) May 5, 2024
Very upsetting indeed! I didn’t need that on a blessed Sunday! Yet there I was, a stinker of a reminder to begin my day regarding the Red Sox’s lack of power entering their final game of the weekend series in Minnesota.
Granted: the team must’ve saw this post on Twitter—formerly known as X—while having their Wheaties, too. They knocked a pair of round trippers en route to a 9-2 victory in the series finale, salvaging something against the Twinkies.
The point remains though: the power has been a point of concern, correct?
The point is: I’m not overly concerned about the power outage just yet. If it gets to be a trend, we can discuss, but right now I’m not going to put all the stock into one week of less than optimal power output.
Even after a tough week at the plate in general, where the club only pushed across six runs in (gulp) 36 innings during their mini-losing streak from Wednesday through Saturday, the Red Sox still rank in the top 10 in baseball in collective hits (294), doubles (62), slugging percentage (.409), OPS (.730), RBI (156, although this is kinda cheating because there are a few teams tied in eighth with the same number), and—yes—homers (38).
Rafael Devers’ OPS+ is up to 150 now; that’s All-Star caliber stuff at the plate. While Tyler O’Neill is likely due for some negative regression, he’s still consistently hitting the ball hard, which bodes well for his outlook. Wilyer Abreu has been a great option in extending the lineup. Connor Wong deserves some props for chipping in five round trippers thus far. Triston Casas hopefully will be back in due time.
Point is: I think this past week was just a bit of a bump in the road for the offense. There are enough guys here that can keep the line moving and push enough runs across to remain competitive. One bad stretch of games shouldn’t sway our opinion on that front too much. There is no need to be upset.
Song Of The Week: “Whatcha Doing” by Dua Lipa
Dua Lipa’s new album dropped on Friday, so there was only ever gonna be one option for the song this week. Song of the summer potential if you ask me. She can do no wrong in my book.
Same time and same place next week, friends! Go Sox.