Red Sox Forgotten 24-Year-Old Is 'Probably' Best Triston Casas Replacement: Insider

Baseball works in mysterious ways...

Mar 13, 2025; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; Boston Red Sox second base Vaughn Grissom (5) rounds third base and scores during the second inning against the New York Mets at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images | Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images

The scramble to find Triston Casas' replacement is afoot.

On Friday night, the Boston Red Sox lost their starting first baseman to a serious knee injury. While it's still too early to know anything definitive, the facts that he was carted off the field and stayed at the hospital long after the game was over weren't good signs.

It's a gut-wrenching moment for Casas, but the Red Sox have little time to feel sorry for themselves. The 25-year-old slugger was the team's one and only plan at first base this season, and suddenly, that plan looks to be scratched.

In the immediate future Red Sox have to roll with some combination of utility man Romy González and minor-league call-up Abraham Toro at first base. But one insider believes there is another player in Triple-A who could be the best Casas alternative.

On Friday, Chris Cotillo of MassLive wrote that infielder Vaughn Grissom was "probably" the best option the Red Sox currently have in Triple-A to take over at first base.

"Grissom, naturally a middle infielder who broke into the Red Sox organization playing exclusively second base last year, entered Friday with four games of experience at first as the club tries to build depth," Cotillo wrote.

"Grissom is probably the best immediate Triple-A solution as someone with a good amount of big league experience and offensive upside (entering Friday, he’s hitting .289 with three homers and an .825 OPS in Triple-A."

Grissom's story is well known: He was acquired in the Chris Sale trade with the Atlanta Braves last season, and while Sale was winning a Cy Young Award, Grissom started the season injured, struggled, got injured again, and wound up spending more than half of his time in Triple-A.

The 24-year-old lost the starting second base job to Kristian Campbell in spring training, but he's doing the best he can to earn himself another look in the big leagues. Perhaps that look is coming soon.

Casas and Grissom were roommates during spring training this year, so in a way, it would be poetic for the latter to take over for the former. In Major League Baseball, one player's tough break is usually another's opportunity.

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