"The title for most electric positional prospect—and arguably the most impressive prospect overall—belongs to Konnor Griffin. A superior athlete, Griffin is the type of player who stands out just getting off the bus. His swing, tools and explosiveness keep your attention when on the field, too. Griffin worked over the offseason to overhaul a swing that got out of sync at times as an amateur. Now, his swing is smooth and powerful, possessing outlier bat speed and the ability to elevate on his best contact. He moves like a hot knife through butter in center field—his newly anointed position—and attacks the base paths as he hunts extra bases. Griffin looks like a top 10 overall prospect in the making."
Check the link for an equally compelling take on Bubba.
Please, please, please make this an accurate forecast. If Griffin really does become the star that his tools suggest he can be, it totally changes the overall mid-term outlook for the organization.
my optimistic take is that his innate contact ability is good, actually, and his insane athleticism will correlate to swing adjustments and barrel control in the same manner as bubba chandler / jared jones / paul skenes athleticism led to realized upside on the mound.
Getting way ahead of myself here, but the reason this is important is that if he really is a superstar, then he can blow through the minors and get to Pittsburgh while Skenes is still around. It can be done. Guys like Sosa (an extreme case), Harper, Acuna, Tatis, Jr., Henderson were all in the majors by age 20/21. That’s what the Bucs need —- a guy on the offensive side of the ball with that kind of ability.
A very nice job by Mitch Keller and some needed bat and leg work from Oneil Cruz, Cutch, etc, and some good defense to support - Reynolds, Endy. Nice to see the Pirates get into the win column, and hopefully they have enough to take the next two in Miami. Still not understanding why Adam Frazier was signed in the first place, and even worse, why he is still occupying a spot of the Active Roster. A dead zone - what upside is expected? Just blocking younger talent.
Liked the number of whiffs for Ashcraft, but that only converted to 5 K's in 3.1 IP. Not bad for a first outing. Scoreless inning by Hunter Stratton in a game that did not have many scoreless innings by Pirate pitching. Two really strong young CF's in that St Paul lineup - Emmanuel Rodriguez 22, and Walker Jenkins 20, both LH hitters with capability of providing average and power. Jenkins was the 1-5 by the Twins in 2023 (Pirates 1-1 Skenes), and Rodriguez was a $2.5 mil IFA by the Twins in 2019.
"The title for most electric positional prospect—and arguably the most impressive prospect overall—belongs to Konnor Griffin. A superior athlete, Griffin is the type of player who stands out just getting off the bus. His swing, tools and explosiveness keep your attention when on the field, too. Griffin worked over the offseason to overhaul a swing that got out of sync at times as an amateur. Now, his swing is smooth and powerful, possessing outlier bat speed and the ability to elevate on his best contact. He moves like a hot knife through butter in center field—his newly anointed position—and attacks the base paths as he hunts extra bases. Griffin looks like a top 10 overall prospect in the making."
Check the link for an equally compelling take on Bubba.
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/standout-mlb-prospects-for-all-15-grapefruit-league-teams/
Please, please, please make this an accurate forecast. If Griffin really does become the star that his tools suggest he can be, it totally changes the overall mid-term outlook for the organization.
my optimistic take is that his innate contact ability is good, actually, and his insane athleticism will correlate to swing adjustments and barrel control in the same manner as bubba chandler / jared jones / paul skenes athleticism led to realized upside on the mound.
Getting way ahead of myself here, but the reason this is important is that if he really is a superstar, then he can blow through the minors and get to Pittsburgh while Skenes is still around. It can be done. Guys like Sosa (an extreme case), Harper, Acuna, Tatis, Jr., Henderson were all in the majors by age 20/21. That’s what the Bucs need —- a guy on the offensive side of the ball with that kind of ability.
A very nice job by Mitch Keller and some needed bat and leg work from Oneil Cruz, Cutch, etc, and some good defense to support - Reynolds, Endy. Nice to see the Pirates get into the win column, and hopefully they have enough to take the next two in Miami. Still not understanding why Adam Frazier was signed in the first place, and even worse, why he is still occupying a spot of the Active Roster. A dead zone - what upside is expected? Just blocking younger talent.
Liked the number of whiffs for Ashcraft, but that only converted to 5 K's in 3.1 IP. Not bad for a first outing. Scoreless inning by Hunter Stratton in a game that did not have many scoreless innings by Pirate pitching. Two really strong young CF's in that St Paul lineup - Emmanuel Rodriguez 22, and Walker Jenkins 20, both LH hitters with capability of providing average and power. Jenkins was the 1-5 by the Twins in 2023 (Pirates 1-1 Skenes), and Rodriguez was a $2.5 mil IFA by the Twins in 2019.
"only" a 50% K-rate for Ashcraft? BUM!