Red Sox Players With Most to Prove for Rest of 2024 Season

The Boston Red Sox have spent much of the season within a few games of a .500 record, and while they have seen some regression from the starting rotation after a hot start, some in-house improvements offensively could take pressure off the pitching staff.

Regardless of whether they wind up as buyers, sellers or somewhere in between, there are a handful of players with a lot to prove during the second half of the campaign.

Whether it's an underperforming or injured star, an upcoming free agent or a breakout performer at a key position who needs to maintain his current level of production, there are many reasons someone might have something to prove.

Ahead, we've highlighted three such players on the Red Sox roster.

2B Vaughn Grissom

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BALTIMORE, MD - MAY 28: Vaughn Grissom #5 of the Boston Red Sox in action against the Baltimore Orioles during the eighth inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on May 28, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

The Red Sox sent promising young infielder Vaughn Grissom to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for veteran starter Chris Sale during the offseason in a deal that looked like it might be the rare win-win exchange.

Let's check in on how those two are doing:

• Grissom: 87 PA, .148/.207/.160, 1 XBH (0 HR), 3 RBI, -0.6 WAR
• Sale: 13 GS, 9-2, 2.98 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 99 K, 81.2 IP, 2.2 WAR

With the Red Sox also on the hook for $17 million worth of Sale's salary, this is quickly shaping up to be an all-time awful trade.

However, Grissom is still only 23 years old and not far removed from being a consensus Top 100 prospect, so there is still time for him to right the ship.

OF Tyler O'Neill

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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 13: Tyler O'Neill #17 of the Boston Red Sox rounds the bases after his three-run home run against the Philadelphia Phillies during the fourth inning at Fenway Park on June 13, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty Images)

There are few players with a wider range of potential outcomes in free agency than Tyler O'Neill.

The 28-year-old looked like a budding superstar not long ago, posting a 6.1-WAR season in 2021 when he hit .286/.352/.560 with 34 home runs while also winning Gold Glove honors in left field.

However, injuries limited him to 168 combined games in 2022 and 2023, and the St. Louis Cardinals sold low during the offseason to clear an outfield logjam, trading him to the Red Sox in exchange for Nick Robertson and Victor Santos.

If he can maintain something even close to his current numbers, which include a .264/.357/.555 line for a 151 OPS+ and 15 home runs in 210 plate appearances, he could put himself in position for a lucrative multi-year deal in free agency.

RHP Nick Pivetta

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ATLANTA, GA MAY 08: Boston pitcher Nick Pivetta (37) pitches during the MLB game between the Boston Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves on May 8th, 2024 at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Another upcoming free agent with a wide potential range of markets, Nick Pivetta is trying to separate himself from a pack of pitchers likely looking at a one-year deal in the $10-15 million range this offseason.

Pivetta, 31, has shown swing-and-miss stuff throughout his MLB career with 1,026 strikeouts in 937 innings over eight seasons with the Phillies and Red Sox, but he has never quite put it all together for a full year.

Through 10 starts this year, he has a 3.88 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 59 strikeouts in 53.1 innings, and his 2.4 BB/9 represents a career-best walk rate. If he can match that level of production the rest of the way, he might be able to reel in a multi-year contract and a higher annual value than some of the other pitchers in his same range of the pitching market.