Vaughn Grissom has been a pleasant surprise for the Angels with one weird exception

2026 might have represented a last-chance scenario for Vaughn Grissom as the fallen prospect looked to latch on with the Los Angeles Angels. Things didn't get off to an auspicious start, with Grissom missing the first few weeks of the season with a wrist injury. Since returning from the IL, though, the 25-year-old has been a pleasant surprise and likely has exceeded the Angels' expectations so far.

Grissom was one of two high-ceiling dart throws the Halos took over the offseason to fix their infield, with the other, Oswald Peraza, setting the bar incredibly high. With a 127 wRC+, Peraza has been a revelation and has performed as Los Angeles's best hitter not named Mike Trout, but in his shadow, Grissom hasn't been far behind.

The former Braves bust has slashed .273/.351/.409 with a 112 wRC+ through 22 games. It hasn't been luck, either, as Grissom is among the league leaders in hard-hit balls and owns a 50% hard-hit rate while walking 11.5% of the time and striking out just 7.7% of the time.

Oddly, though, Grissom has struggled against fastballs this year, posting a run value of minus-one against the pitch while hitting just .222 with a .333 slugging percentage. Typically, when you think of players consistently hitting rockets all over the field, you think of them annihilating fastballs, but so far, the opposite has been true for Grissom.

Vaughn Grissom's struggles against fastballs are an oddly positive sign for the Angels

While struggling against the fastball might be a cause for concern, we're still dealing with a relatively small sample size from Grissom. That is reason to take his encouraging performance with a grain of salt, but it's also reason to believe he might get even better.

If we assume the performance he's shown against breaking balls and offspeed stuff is for real, then we have a nice foundation to build upon. Most young hitters struggle against the soft stuff, and Grissom fit that narrative earlier in his career.

But earlier in his career, Grissom did do damage pretty consistently against the heater. He last played in the bigs in 2024, and posted a run value of one while batting .330 and slugging .420 against four-seamers. In 2023, Grissom only racked up 80 plate appearances, but hit .389 with a .500 SLG against fastballs. Finally, in his best season, 2022, he posted a run value of six and hit .381 with a .690 SLG.

Overall, he has a relatively lengthy track record of success against velocity for a player who had never established a real foothold in the majors. If he can marry the two strengths now, watch out.

There's reason to believe that Grissom is for real, and his improvement in chase rate is key. He chased outside of the zone 35.2% of the time in 2022, at a 34.1% clip in 2023, and a 29.4% rate in 2024. This year, he's chased just 25% of the time. Most often, it's breaking pitches at changeups that generate chases, leading one to believe he is seeing these pitches better and thus laying off them accordingly, which has fueled his surge.

Logic would dictate that his prowess against fastballs will return and that his improvement against the other stuff is for real, which would constitute a real breakout. The Red Sox seem to be kicking themselves over giving him away, and if it all comes together, they'll really regret letting the Angels steal him away.

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