CHICAGO — The highest prospect in baseball is one step nearer to reaching Pittsburgh.
Konnor Griffin — the No. 1 prospect within the recreation, in response to MLB Pipeline — is being promoted to Double-A Altoona, sources inform MLB.com. It’s his second promotion up the Pirates’ farm system this 12 months in what has been a meteoric rise for the shortstop/heart fielder.
Griffin, 19, has slashed .332/.414/.524 with 16 dwelling runs, 72 RBIs and 59 stolen bases this season in 101 video games for Single-A Bradenton and Excessive-A Greensboro. These outcomes have solely improved with Greensboro, with a .942 OPS and 33 stolen bases on 40 makes an attempt over 51 video games in Excessive-A.
“It’s been a fairly spectacular run,” basic supervisor Ben Cherington stated on his radio present on 93.7 The Fan final Sunday. “He fills up a field rating. You have a look at the field rating, and he’s doing this, this and this. … It’s been thrilling.”
For individuals who have watched Griffin intently this 12 months, that time is obvious.
“He was the most effective participant within the league, definitely,” Marauders supervisor Jim Horner stated lately in an interview with MLB.com. “He’s the most effective participant I’ve seen on this league, definitely. … He wants recreation expertise on the skilled degree, however he’s studying so quick.”
The offensive upside of Griffin is immense, graded as having a 55 hit device, 60 energy device and 70 run device, in response to MLB Pipeline’s scouting grades. The peripherals have solely improved because the 12 months has progressed, too. In Greensboro, Griffin minimize down on his ground-ball price whereas additionally drawing extra walks, serving to him attain base extra usually for steals or simply rack up luggage rapidly with extra-base hits. He got here into Spring Coaching with a retooled swing after working with longtime massive leaguer Mark DeRosa, and it has paid dividends.
However maybe Griffin’s biggest instruments, in response to Horner, are his baseball “ticker” and work ethic. That was evident when watching him develop on protection.
For instance, Horner remembers when infield coach Mendy Lopez got here all the way down to Bradenton to assist work on what Griffin ought to do at shortstop on balls within the gap. There are occasions when the shortstop must nonetheless cost the ball as an alternative of letting it get deep, which may create a clumsy method angle.
Griffin labored on it with Lopez, and later that very same day, he stole a base hit on that precise kind of play. He has made simply seven errors in 69 video games at shortstop, displaying that he has been rising in all aspects of his recreation.
“If he wasn’t good at one thing, he would follow it till he grew to become good at it,” Horner stated. “That was evident at shortstop. Not essentially new to him, however simply the nuances of enjoying shortstop at an expert degree and enjoying heart. He was very open to info and he would apply the knowledge instantly. It simply means he’s an outstanding athlete.”
Being promoted twice in a single 12 months is uncommon for any prospect, particularly a youngster. When Griffin fits up for Altoona, he’ll turn out to be the youngest participant to play for the Curve. In the mean time, the document is held by Andrew McCutchen (19 years, 10 months, 5 days). Assuming Griffin performs Tuesday, he’ll beat that by over six months.
It additionally places Griffin one step nearer to the Majors, and seeing how rapidly he’s flown via the primary half of the farm system, it’s straightforward to let the thoughts race about how quickly he might be within the Majors. If nothing else, he might be about 85 miles east of PNC Park now, getting tantalizingly near The Present.
It’ll even be an opportunity for Pirates followers to see if Griffin actually is as marketed.
“He’s all that and a bag of chips, I suppose you’d say,” Horner stated. “He’s going to be enjoyable to observe.”
