The Boston Red Sox are moving on from Vaughn Grissom.
On Tuesday, the club announced that Grissom was traded to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for outfield prospect Isaiah Jackson. Jackson was the No. 25 ranked prospect in the Angels’ system, according to MLB Pipeline.
The Red Sox acquired Grissom in the Dec. 2023 trade that sent left-hander Chris Sale to the Atlanta Braves. At the time, the move made sense as Sale couldn’t overcome his injury woes. Although Grissom never lived up to his billing as a top prospect in Atlanta, there was hope that a change of scenery could help him develop into a solid middle infielder in Boston.
Instead, Sale revitalized his career with the Braves and won his first career Cy Young award, finishing his first season in Atlanta with an MLB-best 2.38 ERA in 29 starts. Grissom never found a path to consistent playing time with the Red Sox as he hit .190 with no homers and a .465 OPS over 31 big-league appearances, all in 2024.
Grissom spent the entire 2025 campaign at Triple-A Worcester. The 24-year-old slashed a respectable .270/.342/.441 with 13 homers and 48 RBI over 96 games for the WooSox, but he remained stuck behind Kristian Campbell, David Hamilton, Romy Gonzalez, Marcelo Mayer, Nick Sogard, Trevor Story, and Ceddanne Rafaela on the middle-infield depth chart.
As for Jackson, the 21-year-old was selected in the eighth round of the 2025 MLB Draft out of Arizona State. He notched 18 homers with a 1.032 OPS over 60 games for the Sun Devils, then played in 10 games for the Angels’ Low-A affiliate.
Parting ways with Grissom cleared a spot on the Red Sox’ 40-man roster.