Pirates GM Ben Cherington Addresses Konnor Griffin Extension Speculation
PITTSBURGH — The arrival of top prospect Konnor Griffin added plenty of excitement to an energized crowd for the 2026 home opener at PNC Park on Friday.
Griffin was called up for his MLB debut not even two years after the Pirates selected him out of high school with the ninth pick in the 2024 draft. Griffin breezed through the minor leagues last season and found himself in competition to be on the club’s Opening Day roster at spring training.
The Pirates, instead, opted to start Griffin with Triple-A Indianapolis, where he impressed enough in only five games to inspire enough confidence to make the decision to allow him to become the first teenage position player to make his big-league debut since Juan Soto in 2018.
“I think at the end of Spring Training it felt like the timing wasn’t just right. Pressing a little bit maybe,” said Pirates general manager Ben Cherington. “I think he even said some things about that. The time is Triple-A wasn’t long, but it looked like he had settled back into his at-bats.”
On the day Griffin was promoted, there was speculation that an extension would come with it. So far, nothing has become official between the Pirates and the game’s top prospect.
Cherington addressed the possibility of an extension with Griffin when meeting with members of the media ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the San Diego Padres in Pittsburgh.
“As you know, it’s not something we talk about publicly,” said Cherington. “I think about past experience with things like this, when they happen, it’s usually some combination of the player being open and interested, the team having a high level of belief and conviction in the player, and then having organizational alignment around that. I do think some of those ingredients are in place with Konnor, and so that would give me a level of hope, potentially. But we don’t have anything more to share right now.”
Griffin ripped an RBI double into the left-center gap in his first-career at-bat agaisnt Kyle Bradish in the Pirates’ win over the Orioles on Friday. Since then, the 19-year-old has gone 0 for 12 but has reached base safely three times.
Griffin has started at shortstop in all four games and has made a number of solid plays up the middle.
The Pirates will continue to let Griffin try and get acclimated in the box against big-league competition. For now, that will happen without a long-term deal in place, but an extension remains a possibility.
“We know the defense is going to be there. We know the base running is going to be there,” Cherington explained. “Just what he brings energy wise, attitude wise and as a teammate, that’s going to be there every day. Whenever he was going to get to the Major Leagues, there was going to be some offensive transition. We know that. Ultimately, it just felt like he was going to make the team better.”
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