Konnor Griffin makes unofficial Pirates' debut in complex
Ninth overall pick has three at-bats, plays shortstop.
Konnor Griffin, the Pittsburgh Pirates' 2024 first-round pick, made his ‘debut’ in the organization on Monday, playing in what is being called the ‘Bridge League.’
It’s basically the filler time between the end of the FCL season and Instructs. With the FCL season starting a month sooner, the ‘Bridge League’ is what extended Spring Training was, just flipped to a different part of the year.
WTM was at Pirates’ City to see the game, and I was able to watch it on an available stream. We both gave our thoughts on seeing Griffin for the first time.
WTM: Konnor Griffin appeared in a “bridge league” game Tuesday against the Blue Jays. He wasn’t hard to spot despite wearing a different number from the one on the roster; the tall, athletic-looking guy at short had to be him.
Griffin batted three times. The first time up, he hit a grounder and reached on an error; the second time, he was out on a long drive to the right; the third time, he got an infield hit. There were no swings and misses.
He did a lot of baserunning, going first to third on a single to left and trying several steals cut short by the pitch being fouled off. He has well above-average speed and seems to get underway quickly.
At short, Griffin didn’t get a lot of action. There was one moderately tough play that he made without trouble. His arm is very strong.
Murphy: The first thing that stood out overall was the speed. It’s easily plus, and without having a stopwatch handy, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was every bit plus-plus that some outlets had it as.
His secondary lead was quite large, and maybe the aggressiveness hurts him at first, but once he gets comfortable, he will steal many bases.
It’s harder to make out some of the defensive motions, so I’ll rely on WTM for that part.
At the plate, he put the ball in play all three times, with exit velocities of 95 and 100 in his first two plate appearances. The final was an infield single that went 57 mph off the bat.
In the last at-bat, he faced a pitcher with a very funky/deceptive delivery but was able to track a couple of the breaking balls well, fouling them off.
There is a slightly open stance, with the hands sitting behind his ear. There isn’t much movement with his hands outside the load in his pre-swing.
It was just one game, and I’ll want to see more, but some of the questions about the hit tool made me think it’d be a lot uglier, almost like I did for Tony Blanco Jr.
For it being basically a scrimmage at the complex, there was plenty to like about Griffin’s game. Overall, it was a strong start for the ninth overall pick.
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As some would say, "stop watches exist" lol
His swing didn't look to be as atrocious as people made it sound, not that I know anything about swing mechanics. Super excited about this kid, though I wanted Montgomery, I'm excited to see what this kid can do