Braves have Ron Washington working with their potential shortstop: Vaughn Grissom - The Athletic $

If it wasn’t apparent there’s a very real possibility Swanson will leave as a free agent, it should be now. The Braves sent Grissom from his home in Orlando, Florida, to New Orleans on Sunday to work with “Wash,” the first of three planned one-week sessions designed for one thing: to get the 21-year-old ready to play shortstop on a regular basis in the majors.

Grissom is staying in a downtown hotel and working out for about three hours each day with Washington at New Orleans Youth Academy, which is operated by MLB. Washington recently told Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos that he could get Grissom ready to play shortstop by spring training.

“That’s why they’re giving me time with him right now — to get him right,” Washington said. “Get him thinking right, getting him to understand the nuances of being a shortstop, the things you have to do, the way you have to go about your business. You know, he’s a young kid. A young kid that’s just used to going out there, putting the gloves on and playing. There’s a lot more to playing defense than just putting the glove on and going out there, and if the ball comes to you, you catch it.

“So I’m taking this opportunity to instill as much as I possibly can in him, so that when we hit spring training, if it so happens that we don’t sign Dansby back, we have some options. We also have Arcia. So we’ve got some options. But this kid (Grissom) has got some upside. And we’ve got to have him ready for whatever may go down.”