Why the Atlanta Braves are so confident in Vaughn Grissom

After losing Dansby Swanson, the Atlanta Braves are undeterred and a big reason why is the team’s confidence in young Vaughn Grissom. 

At some point around the All-Star break, the Atlanta Braves offered shortstop Dansby Swanson a contract in the $100 million range. If they had offered it a year earlier, Swanson likely would have accepted it. Except Swanson was suddenly in the middle of a career-best season and appeared primed to cash in as a free agent.

So the Braves faced a similar predicament to what they did last offseason with Freddie Freeman and unlike last year, the possibility of Swanson leaving seemed very real. Then Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts and Carlos Correa signed contracts that ranged from $280-360 million, which seemingly priced the Braves out on Swanson.

Ultimately, Swanson agreed to a seven-year, $177 million contract with the Chicago Cubs. Unlike last offseason when the Braves acquired Matt Olson in a blockbuster trade to replace Freeman, however, there are no clearcut options externally to replace their homegrown shortstop.

The Brewers will not trade Willy Adames this offseason. Free-agent options Jean Segura and Elvis Andrus, among others, are not in position to adequately replace Swanson’s production offensively or defensively. After all, Swanson is coming off a season in which he hit .277/.329/.447 with 25 home runs, 96 RBI and a .776 OPS while grading out as one of the best defensive shortstops in baseball.

The Braves, however, are in position where they could roll with rookie Vaughn Grissom at shortstop. Grissom, 21, is barely past rookie status and was called up from Double-A last season in large part because of injuries. But he flashed in a big way down the stretch, hitting .291/.353/.440 with five home runs, a .792 OPS and 0.8 WAR, and showed he is capable of playing either middle infield position.

Besides, the Braves have an extensive recent history of betting on young players, and winning. Michael Harris II and Spencer Strider, the two prominent Rookie of the Year candidates, did it last year. The Braves did it with Austin Riley, who is now an annual MVP candidate. And they also have done it with Ronald Acuna Jr., Freeman, Swanson and Ozzie Albies.

Braves: Why Atlanta is confident moving forward with Vaughn Grissom

In the meantime, Grissom has spent parts of the offseason working with Braves third base coach, and noted defensive guru, Ron Washington at his home in New Orleans.

Washington told The Athletic in November, “I don’t think Dansby is replaceable unless they go get a superstar. But we can handle the position. We’ve got (Orlando) Arcia, and we’ve got Grissom — that kid is getting better and better every day. He’s here in New Orleans right now, and I’m telling you, he’s improving big time.”

Washington does not hand out praise just to hand out praise. When he says something, you listen, and his tutelage is a primary reason why Riley has emerged as a Gold Glove candidate at third base.

But as Washington noted, the presence of Arcia takes some of the pressure off Grissom — at least for now. Arcia, 28, was formerly the Brewers’ starting shortstop. He’s an above-average defender and has experience playing in big games. If Grissom isn’t ready for the Opening Day shortstop job, Arcia is more than capable of handling the position until Grissom is ready to assume that role.

With Alex Anthopoulos, the Braves cannot be ruled out of anything. He’s among baseball’s most aggressive and unpredictable executives and he’s constantly working the phones to upgrade his roster. But adding another shortstop, especially close to Swanson’s caliber, will be borderline impossible this winter.

This means that it’s entirely possible that the shortstop position is Grissom and Arcia’s job to lose — and Braves officials, both publicly and privately, believe they are up for the job.