Konnor Griffin might be making his final Minor League step in his trek towards the inevitable.
Griffin kicked off his Triple-A tenure by reaching base twice and swiping his first bag of the season in Indianapolis’ 4-2 Opening Night time loss to St. Paul at Victory Subject. The 19-year-old singled, walked, scored twice and dealt with all six possibilities he had at shortstop flawlessly.
Coming off a exceptional professional debut in 2025, there was thought Griffin may start the season within the Majors. Pittsburgh quieted any such ideas once they reassigned him to Minor League camp on March 21. The ninth general choose within the 2024 Draft acquired in on the motion instantly, catching a popup by Walker Jenkins (MIN No. 1/MLB No. 14) to start out the sport.
Batting in his customary leadoff spot, Griffin labored a six-pitch stroll to start the underside of the primary inning and swiped second — his first stolen base after tallying 65 final season — earlier than scoring on a single by Endy Rodríguez. The Mississippi native grounded out in his second plate look however collected his first Triple-A knock within the sixth, lacing a 102.2 mph grounder into left area and scoring once more on one other Rodríguez hit.
How lengthy Griffin performs for Indianapolis stays to be seen. Regardless of hammering 4 homers and driving in 9 runs throughout Spring Coaching, the 6-foot-3, 222-pounder struck out 13 occasions in 46 Grapefruit League plate appearances. Nonetheless, Pittsburgh was enamored with what they noticed from their prized prospect, notably supervisor Don Kelly.
“Once you’re speaking a couple of child who got here into huge league camp taking part in shortstop for the primary time … the expertise that you simply see, I feel he dealt with himself rather well, professionally,” Kelly stated.
Contemplating his meteoric rise, it is easy to overlook Griffin has all of 98 plate appearances above Excessive-A. At the same time as a top-10 choose, few envisioned the shortstop taking the game by storm in his first 12 months as a professional. Griffin hit the bottom operating final 12 months and appeared to get higher because the season wore on, shifting up three ranges and ending up at Double-A Altoona.
For the season, Griffin slashed .333/.415/.527 with 48 extra-base hits, 21 homers, 117 runs and 94 RBIs in 122 video games. Unsurprisingly, his efficiency earned him quite a few accolades on the conclusion of the 2025 marketing campaign and put him on the quick observe to the Majors, regardless of the very fact he will not flip 20 till subsequent month.
