Perrotto: Future Already Getting Close to Now for Konnor Griffin
Many of the best prospects in baseball will gather this afternoon in Atlanta. One who will get plenty of attention is Konnor Griffin.
Griffin has skyrocketed up the prospect rankings since the Pittsburgh Pirates chose the shortstop/center fielder in the first round of last year’s amateur draft from Jackson Preparatory School in Florwood, Miss.
Baseball America ranks Griffin as the second-best prospect in the game. MLB Pipeline has him at No.13.
Griffin was promoted from Low-A Bradenton to High-A Greensboro after hitting .338/.396/.536 with nine home runs and 26 stolen bases in 50 games for the Marauders. In 25 games with Greensboro, the 19-year-old is slashing .302/.409/.490 with four homers and 15 steals.
Griffin will be part of the National League team in the All-Star Futures Game at Truist Park. He will be joined by Double-A Altoona outfielder/first baseman Esmerlyn Valdez.
The Pirates were confident they were getting a good player when they chose Griffin ninth overall last year. However, some organizations had questions about Griffin because of the level of competition he faced in Mississippi and the inconsistency of his at-bats.
However, Griffin has been everything the Pirates were hoping for and more.
“His approach to his day, really from his first day as a Pirate seemed to be advanced for what you would expect from someone his age,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said. “Obviously, there’s physical ability there. To some degree, there’s some part of his physical ability was maybe even underappreciated as an amateur because in some ways you don’t really have a full way to really test it as an amateur.
“Once he’s in pro ball, that’s when we can start measuring things more accurately, and we now know his swing is pretty good. He’s got bat speed, and he’s making contact. It quickly starts to answer that question.”
There were also questions about Griffin’s ability to play shortstop at the professional level, but he has made four errors in 53 games at the position. He has also been error-free in 10 games as a center fielder.
Griffin has done nothing to make the Pirates think he will need to move to the outfield.
“He’s been able to play short quite a bit, and he’s passed those tests pretty well,” Cherington said. “We now have a lot more conviction that he can do it. I think it’s a combination of those things. His approach to the day was advanced from the get-go, and some of the skills, probably from just being there, but needing the program to test it out, and he’s passed those tests.
“(Shortstop is) clearly our focus right now. He’s continued to dabble in center, partly to keep it in his back pocket, and honestly because it’s sort of fun for him to do it. It creates a challenge inside his game, but the priority is shortstop.”
Teams have been moving prospects through their farm systems faster than ever in recent years. Cherington attributes this to the improving quality of college baseball, as well as advances in training and technology for amateur players.
Cherington isn’t ready to set a timeline for when Griffin will reach the major leagues. After all, he is a teenager.
Yet it seems likely that Griffin will wind up in Altoona before the end of the season. At that point, he would be two steps away from the major leagues.
It is never wise to get too excited about prospects. However, it’s hard not to notice that Griffin is zooming towards the big leagues.
More about: Pirates Prospects