One Additional Reason Pirates Could Promote Konnor Griffin Sooner Than Later
Cries for the Pittsburgh Pirates to promote top prospect Konnor Griffin have grown louder amidst the team’s offensive struggles, particularly with men on base to start the season.
The Pirates fell to 1-3 to begin the year following Monday night’s loss to the Cincinnati Reds. They finished the game 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base. Through their first four games of the season, Pittsburgh is 6 for 45 (.133) with runners in scoring position and has left a whopping 40 runners stranded.
Current starting shortstop Jared Triolo has left 12 runners on base and is just 2 for 17 (.118) with a .387 OPS to begin the season.
Meanwhile, Griffin has five hits in 10 at-bats with a pair of doubles, an RBI, three runs, three walks and a pair of stolen bases through three games with Triple-A Indianapolis.
There are plenty of reasons for the Pirates to consider promoting the game’s top prospect soon, but one factor that could play into the decision is an off-the-field one.
One element that was added to the league’s current CBA during the last round of negotiations was the Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI). The goal of the incentive is to have teams promote their best prospects early instead of manipulating service time to gain an extra year of eligibility by rewarding an organization with an additional high draft pick if a player wins Rookie of the Year or finishes in the top three of MVP or Cy Young voting before arbitration.
There is certain criteria a prospect must meet in order to be eligible for PPI. Obviously, they must have rookie eligibility, which Griffin would. As the consensus top prospect in baseball, Griffin meets another qualification as having to be on at least two of three top 100 prospects rankings by MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and ESPN.
The other factor a player must meet is accruing a full year of service time as a rookie. Just because Griffin wasn’t added to the active roster to begin the season doesn’t mean he can’t qualify, but the Pirates will need to act quickly to ensure that he does.
That requires spending at least 172 out of the 186 days on the active MLB roster or injured list, giving a two-week window after the start of the season for a player to still qualify.
For the Pirates, that means in order to have a chance at a PPI draft pick, they’ll need to call Griffin up before a scheduled off day on April 9, which is two weeks after Opening Day.
While PPI won’t be the main motivation for the Pirates in determining when to call up Griffin, it could add some urgency, even more at least when considering the lack of production the big-league club has received so far.
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