Aug. 15: The Braves have formally placed Albies on the injured list and recalled Grissom from Triple-A Gwinnett, per a team announcement. Lopez and Grissom figure to split time at second base while Albies is on the mend.
Aug. 14: The Braves are placing Ozzie Albies on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain, manager Brian Snitker told reporters, including Mark Bowman of MLB.com (Twitter link). Albies left the field early on Sunday with what the club called “hamstring cramping” and did not play in the series opener against the Yankees the following night.
The second baseman is in the midst of an excellent season, with a 120 wRC+ and 3.2 FanGraphs WAR. Prior to his injury, he hadn’t missed a game all year, and he was on pace to blow past his career high of 30 home runs, set in 2021. He has also gone 11-for-11 in stolen base attempts.
Nicky Lopez, whom the Braves acquired from the Royals at the trade deadline, is likely to fill in at second base. The 28-year-old utility infielder has performed admirably in his first four games with Atlanta, smacking seven hits in ten at-bats. His success at the plate is unlikely to continue (he has a career .632 OPS), but he should provide the Braves with excellent defense at the keystone corner. He has already amassed 7 Outs Above Average this season in a part-time role.
Atlanta will need another infielder to take Albies’ spot on the roster, and Snitker indicated that Vaughn Grissom is a possibility (Bowman link). The 22-year-old filled in for Albies last year while the All-Star second baseman nursed a fractured foot and then a fractured finger. Grissom is hitting well at Triple-A, with a .906 OPS and a 129 wRC+ in 88 games.
Albies has been a core contributor for the Braves since his rookie season in 2017, but Atlanta should be just fine in his absence. The Braves have the best record in baseball, and according to FanGraphs, they have a 99.9% chance to win the NL East. With an 11.5-game lead in the division, they can afford to exercise the utmost caution with Albies to ensure he is back to full strength in time for the playoffs.
Vaughn Grissom meet Waly Pipp.
Nah, Atlanta ball club will play it safe and start Nikky Lopez instead.
That’s why they got him. No need to bring Grissom up at all.
Gotta bring up some infielder I mean if Arcia or Nicky go down that would make Eddie Rosario your 2nd baseman
Rosario is clutch in big spots
With his bat…..not trying to turn a 6-4-3 double play
Won’t know until you let him try
Well there was a time this year when they had literally no backup infielder on the roster. It wasn’t too long. They had Culbertson keeping the bench warm much of the season.
I hate to say it but there is a compilation video of Rosario being clutch on YouTube and it’s downright absurd how many times he has had a big hit in his career at the most important moment. There is something to it. It’s like 40 examples if I recall
Lifetime .5 clutch score. This means he has performed only negligibly better in clutch situations than expected
As much as people want it to be that simple, it isn’t. We attempt to get a stat for this very reason of measurement but our own assumptions and weighing of factors have gone into how the stat is calculated. A stat like that is only an approximation at best. And seeing as he is above average at the stat it doesn’t refute what people are sensing to be true. Many players go their entire careers without that moment where the team only ended up winning because of your bat or glove. When a player can be shown to have had several situations like that they are clutch in a sense at least, even if only in certain types of clutch situations. Semantics is an issue here. Having a word “clutch” makes it seem like we know exactly what to look for but it’s pretty vague
On the 26 man, once adrianza went down, culberston was brought up. and outside of that…Shewmake and Grissom have been on the 40 man roster all year. They have infielders on the roster.
problem with Culbertson is he is not on the 40 man roster anymore so it requires more moves to bring him up and with Chavez, Wright, Lee and maybe Anderson around the corner to come off the 40 IL it is already an interesting mess we got. Good to have of course too many guys. Grissom and Nicky did fine splitting time Luke Williams is another guy that can play every infield and outfield. And with our line up Pillar and Eddie along with catchers are the only places you don’t have every day guys at.
Charlie Culberson back up to hold the bench down?
No Charlie isn’t on the 40 man roster. That would mean releasing someone unless that’s Yonny Chrinios then ok but he’s not going to play and when he gets sent down or places on waivers again become a free agent again and signs 3 days after becoming a free agent again with all the Culberson fans complaining and acting like we treated him like garbage and how unjust it was to release him again and how much of a victim he is.
I’m sorry but I’m tired of that same old song and dance.
And besides Vaughn Grissom is hitting.327 at Gwinnett and Culberson doesn’t even play regularly for the Striper’s.
I agree – it takes 2 to tango. If Culberson felt like a victim, he wouldn’t keep coming back. Not like anyone else wants him. Even if he never lands on the ATL roster again, and they win the WS, he’s getting a ring. Nobody should be crying over that.
The Braves have paid Charlie $240k and he is gotten 62 days of service time which is 1.5 quarters towards his pension and every time the Braves have released him not like any team was knocking on his door to add him to their 40 man roster. All that for just 1 at bat I would say he should be thanking the Braves for what they have done for him not upset.
I heard on MLB Network that the Braves had four everyday players play in every one of their first 113 games. Now that’s what I call “posting up”. Very impressive.
Arcia would’ve done the same if not for getting hurt. He didn’t even go on a rehab assignment.
Olson, Albies, Riley, and Acuna.
I believe Harris and Arcia both would be on that list too if not for injuries early in the season.
This is not something new for Atlanta though. This is something that was instilled in them while Freeman was still here. Swanson played everyday too.
The Braves’ acquisition of Nicky Lopez is looking downright genius right now.
Especially after 3 hits and 3 rbis against the Yanks tonight
Considering who they traded him for, it looked downright genius then too.
Taylor Hearn looked like a stud in AA 5 years ago. I’m not sure why the Royals thought he was a good get for Nicky Lopez.
Another incredible AA move. Let’s pay Fried the going rate & extend AA.
I would like to see Vaugh Grissom come up and play a few games see how he has progressed. Atlanta is going have some off season questions about him. So why not see what he could do.
To be honest, if Grissom didn’t play another game in Atlanta, I’d be fine. That would mean Lopez played excellent during Albies absence, which would probably be short (the minimum).
Atlanta doesn’t pinch hit much, and Grissom’s defense is horrible. He has little business playing D.
Use him as trade bait this winter.
Though his trade value would be higher if he rakes in Atlanta. And that can only happen if he plays.
I understand that if Grissom excels it would raise his trade value significantly, but I don’t have that faith in him and feel it is more likely that he will continue to show his shortcomings as he did earlier this season and further crater his trade value.
It works both ways. As it stands now, he has unfulfilled promise and there might be some front offices who value that more than his recent lack of offensive prowess and the woeful defense he exhibited this year.
Grissom can pinch hit and play a passable second. They will call him up for a few days and then again in September. Other teams know what he is and isn’t., if a player can help the team they will call him up. AA has proven that.
I think Grissom is obvious trade bait but I could see him converting to a LFer for ATL in 2024 if they don’t find the right trade. Rosario is probably going to have his option declined. Ozuna can’t play there effectively. They will need someone.
Grissom doesn’t have the power you want from a left fielder. His bat plays best as an infielder. Rosario may not be the answer in left next year but you want a 20-25 home run guy in left and that is not Grissom. Grissom future is either as a utility player playing 4-5 positions or being traded. You would think that either him of Shoemake are dealt this off season
I don’t see why I need a certain amount of homers in LF. I need solid defense and good hitting. I don’t care what type of hitter they are. Expecting a certain type of player for a certain position is a logical error. It depends on the team. The braves are loaded with offense. All they need is a league average hitter who plays defense well. Many first basemen have been undervalued in the past with similar thinking. One of the problems with stats that compare to the league average at your position is they underrate players contributions who are perfectly valuable and fit well for what their team needs. Just because lots of great hitters without a position wind up at first or left doesn’t mean you have to be compared to those guys to be valuable to your team. They are inflated positions offensively. Picture if Matt Olson were a LFer. The braves would be fine with someone like James Loney at first. The clubs offense is good so the defense becomes the bigger issue as long as the hitting doesn’t hurt you.
LF doesn’t have to be a power position, it just happens to be a place where heavy hitters are often placed when they can’t play IF or make throws from RF anymore. When you have 30 HR power from C, 1B, 2B, 3B, and RF, and 20 HR potential from CF and SS you can probably manage if your LF doesn’t hit more than 10 dingers.
how much more power do you want? team is on pace to break the all time single season HR mark
Grissom has been great at Gwinnett .. improved defense with no errors in the past month and his batting average is up to .328 !
Grissom’s defense isn’t nearly as bad as people pretend. Too many people make too much from his 19 game cup of coffee. he got caught like a deer in the headlights. People that was Gwinnett games know that’s not who he really is.
I agree, most of these people commenting are only repeating stuff that they’ve read elsewhere. But Grissom is a good defender at second and average at ss. And he doesn’t need to hit 30 HRs to play LF. I would take a LF that hits .300, has a .400+ OBP and hits 15HRs
The dude was -7 defensive runs saved (meaning he allowed 7 runs that he shouldn’t have) in only 19 games earlier this year playing shortstop. That is HORRIBLE no matter how you slice it.
Last season at 2nd base in 40 games he was at -3 DRS which is below average.
Grissom is not a good defensive infielder.
That offensive line you posted is a wish list. The dude will never walk enough to have a .400 OBP.
Just as I suspected… Scorecard scouting lol. Grissom was jumped from A+ ball to the majors in 1 season. Swanson was throwing up 20 errors a season too at this stage in his career. He needs time to develop.
Anybody saying he’s a bad fielder hasn’t watched him play much and running to metrics based on a tiny sample size proves that. I think he’s made 2 errors in the last 2+ months combined. His metrics are crushed however by the 6 errors he had in 19 games earlier this season.
Grissom was atrocious defensively in the majors. Dansby made a lot of his errors trying too hard to make every play when he should have held onto the ball. Grissom butchered routine plays.
Lmao… Y’all are a just a bunch of parrots regurgitating old information pretending to have a clue about today. If you don’t watch minor league games regularly shhhh. You don’t know what you’re talking about so don’t pretend you do.
Maybe you didn’t notice, but I said “in the majors”. He was terrible in Atlanta. Don’t pretend to be smarter than everyone else. You’ll fail miserably.
Not pretending to be smarter than anyone but i am repeatedly watching people say the exact same thing that has nothing to with what i said and act like it’s valuable insight… Congratulations for knowing what someone did in an April cup of coffee.
“I would take a LF that hits .300, has a .400+ OBP and hits 15HRs”
Well yeah, that’s a perennial all-star. There are 5 guys hitting .300 with a .400 OBP this year in all of MLB and 3 are HoF locks.
I don’t watch minor league games but I could see how all the work he put in to develop at short the past year (whether he can play well there or not) would make him a better second baseman. That said his value to the team will be limited to times Albies is on the DL if he doesn’t learn to play left field. He could be a good utility player for Atlanta next year but if nobody gets hurt he’d rot on the bench because there are no DH at bats available. If you can play middle infield you should be able to play left field but all this defensive focus (SS during last off-season and hypothetical LF transition) is a lot of work and could limit his focus on his offensive development. But learning LF would make him a very valuable utility player
Grissom. Kind of a headcase. Crappy defense.
I’m loving these first world little inconveniences of the Braves being discussed.
Lolmets.
MLB runner-up in RBI going down…enter Lopez with 8 RBI from the 9-spot in 2 games, which took him 48 games for KC, according to the 8/14 radio broadcast.
Call up Vaughn, let him start, get Ozzie back to 100%.
Lopez is an old school, defense-first middle infielder, and I’m fine with that. A weak-hitting player in the nine hole won’t lose you any games, but a botched play in a crucial situation might.
Yes, but he’s also one of the fastest runners in MLB and with that and ability to play almost any IF position, it makes Culberson & Forrest Wall (pinch running specialist) unnecessary, creating a roster spot.
To those people who call him overrated…
I was rooting for him to stay healthy all year. I know that was his big goal at the start of the year. He is having a fantastic season.
Maybe this is where it starts to all unravel. Fingers crossed
They haven’t skipped a beat without him after last night’s pouncing of the Yankees.
I’m kind of offended you didn’t mention Nicky’s 0 ERA along with his 7 hits.
Idk. Maybe Vaughn Grissom will be the left fielder next year. Hmmm.
This guy would have been a free agent after this season. Now has possibly 4 season left at 7 mil a piece. Ouch.
Can’t tell if it’s sarcasm. I think the Braves would be perfectly OK with Albies’ output this year to be the same over the next four years. $7MM/yr for his prime ages is an absolute bargain.