I read that the team told Rafaela he should be taking the first pitch more often. Might have been just one little tweak in approach that turned things around for him.
I'm just wondering if the scouts got a little overexcited about Grissom's hit tool because of his ability to make contact. The Statcast/Savant stuff shows he doesn't hit the ball very hard by MLB standards. A .497 OPS in his last 220 MLB PA's, with no home runs and not many EBH's period. We're talking some incredibly feeble stuff.
Grissom has put himself behind the 8-ball with his injuries and horrible numbers.
Now that the team is playing well and has a shot at the playoffs, who wants to see more tryouts for Grissom this year instead of playing Hamilton/Romy/Enmanuel?
Seems like one or more of those guys getting injured would be needed to make room for Grissom.
The improvement in his defense seems to be the thing that's keeping him around. This is the first year his defensive number on FanGraphs is out of the red.
With 40 or so games to the deadline, a lot of that is dependent on the position the team puts him in. He'll definitely be tested if the team is right on the borderline of a Wild Card spot again.
Vegas was talking about a RH DH to replace Yoshida.
On paper we're still light on RH offense.
But if O'Neill is healthy and Wong, Rafaela and Refsnyder keep hitting like they are, we don't look so bad.