Konnor Griffin Has Nothing Left To Prove This Spring

Back on November 18th, 2025, ESPN’s Jeff Passan dropped an earth-shattering article in relation to the Pittsburgh Pirates. In this story, Passan first tied the Pirates to Kyle Schwarber, which obviously became the biggest headline from the article.

However, one of the biggest pieces of information in this article slipped through the cracks when it was dropped: The Pirates were considering giving teenage phenom Konnor Griffin a chance to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster.

As it currently stands, Griffin has showcased all of the tools that make scouts call him a complete package this spring. Over the past few days, the club has made a seemingly endless slew of roster moves, reassigning many non-roster invitees back to minor league camp.

But, with just about a week to go until Opening Day, Griffin is one of the two final non-roster invitees left in big league camp.

Every day that passes, it seems more and more possible that Griffin cracks the Opening Day roster, and he should. He’s passed nearly every test put in front of him this spring, silencing any sliver of doubt that remained in his game, translating to the big leagues right now.

With a chance to become the first teenage hitting prospect to debut since Juan Soto in 2018, the 19-year-old has nothing left to prove this spring as camp starts dwindling down.

Griffin’s Excellent Showing

When making the confident assertion that Griffin has nothing left to prove this spring, the immediate pushback will be that Griffin’s stat sheet doesn’t exactly reflect this same idea. However, when digging a little deeper, we see a much bigger story than just his numbers.

So far this spring, Griffin has slugged four homers, slashed .206/.270/.588 with a 110 wRC+. Admittedly, on the surface, these numbers aren’t poor by any means, but they’re not exactly head-turning, either.

For starters, saying Griffin has been incredibly unlucky this spring would be an understatement. His .150 BABIP is an unsustainable mark that indicates just how unfortunate his results have been.

Across his 13 spring training games to this point, Griffin has hit nine balls over 100 MPH, a mark that’s impressive on its own, especially for a teenager facing big league arms. Of these nine batted balls, four have ended up being field outs.

Some of these field outs have been pretty egregious as well. Take his 105.6 MPH flyout against Tim Mayza that traveled nearly 400 ft, for example. A fly ball in this part of the park likely leaves most MLB stadiums, including Griffin’s future home field of PNC Park.

In addition to his nine batted balls over 100 MPH, Griffin has also reached the 94 MPH mark five times. The hardest hit ball of his in this range was hit at 98.9 MPH against Tyler Holton, and you guessed it, this was yet another field out.

His bat isn’t the only part of his game that’s been impressive this spring. He’s regularly been seen flying around the basepaths after poking the ball down the line, showcasing what would be 95th percentile or better sprint speed along the way.

Defensively, Griffin has put on a clinic. One of the main criticisms he faced ahead of the 2025 regular season was whether or not he could handle shortstop, and he silenced that speculation quickly. He ended up winning a minor league Gold Glove, along with a slew of other defensive awards by season’s end.

Overall, Griffin’s talents have been on display this spring, even if the stat sheet doesn’t show it. Trust the underlying numbers, as they indicate a much better spring than it seems like on the surface. It’s only a matter of time until his hardest hit batted balls begin to drop in for hits or even fly over the wall.

The Argument Against Griffin Breaking Camp

Although his on-field performance this spring has indicated that Griffin is clearly big league ready, there are some reasons people around the industry have been more skeptical of this idea.

For starters, Griffin is still just 19 years old and won’t turn 20 until April 24th. The idea of a teenager making his big league debut is incredibly unique and thus virtually unheard of, especially considering his limited playing time in the upper minors.

Griffin has yet to play in a Triple-A game, and he only appeared in 21 games down the stretch for the Double-A Altoona Curve in 2025. Granted, Griffin played incredibly well during this stretch, but many point to this limited experience as a reason not to rush the young superstar or to avoid pushing him too quickly.

As we’ve discussed, Griffin has had success against better pitching, though. His first homer of the spring came against one of the better left-handers in the game, Ranger Suárez. Not only this, but of the nine batted balls Griffin hit above 100 MPH, all nine were thrown by pitchers who have big league experience.

One of the other larger arguments against having Griffin on the major league roster is service time manipulation.

If Griffin is kept in the minor leagues for at least 16 days, that could delay his free agency until 2032. But if Griffin finishes top two in Rookie of the Year voting, he’ll earn this year of service regardless of when he debuts while simultaneously keeping the Pirates from gaining a PPI pick,

This is identical to what happened with Paul Skenes a few years ago. The Pirates kept him down long enough to try to retain him for an extra year, but Skenes won Rookie of the Year, earning a full year of service time and erasing the club’s efforts at manipulating their control over him.

Earlier this spring, Jeff Passan reported that the Pirates were expected to approach Griffin with an extension at some point before spring training came to an end. If he were to sign this deal, service time manipulation would no longer be in question.

Keeping each of these things in mind, it comes down to three things: how much the Pirates believe in Griffin, whether or not they’ll try to manipulate his service time, or whether or not he’s extended prior to Opening Day.

What the Pirates Gain From Promoting Griffin Now

If the team decides to start Griffin on the Opening Day roster, they could still gain quite a bit from this move.

Arguably, the most obvious benefit the club gains is a potential upgrade at shortstop and greater infield flexibility. As it currently stands without Griffin, there’s a significant battle for the starting shortstop job between Nick Gonzales, Nick Yorke, Alika Williams, and potentially Jared Triolo.

Of this group, it seems most likely that the starting job will go to former first-rounder Nick Gonzales if the club doesn’t promote Griffin. With Gonzales yet to showcase the offensive profile that scouts initially loved, in the big leagues, there’s the possibility Griffin could immediately be a stronger offensive option.

After seeing how he’s handled major-league-caliber arms this spring, it’s not far-fetched to believe he’s already the best shortstop on the depth chart.

Starting Griffin in the big leagues also guarantees that Gold Glove winner Jared Triolo will be the club’s everyday third baseman for the time being. With the shortstop situation in limbo, some speculated Triolo would slide over to the “six” for the time being, especially with the club’s pursuit of a third baseman late in the offseason.

But, with that not happening, Triolo is best suited to remain at third base, and Griffin being the starting shortstop makes that even easier. Without him needing to potentially shade to shortstop, the left side of the infield seems more certain right now.

While his on-field production is certainly attractive, arguably the more exciting piece of his debut is that Griffin could earn the Pirates a future first-round pick through MLB’s prospect promotion incentive. Griffin could do this through winning rookie of the year or finishing in the top three of MVP voting during his first three years of service time.

With Griffin seemingly ready to make an impact on the field and potentially having the potential to earn the Pirates a PPI pick along the way, he has nothing left to prove this spring. It’s time to give the phenom a shot at the big league level and see what he can do.

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