Pirates Prospect Named Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year

Konnor Griffin is Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year

Griffin was the Pirates’ No. 1 draft choice (ninth overall) in the 2024 June Amateur Draft (which Major League Baseball now holds in July, strangely enough) out of Jackson Preparatory School in Flowood, Mississippi. The eight teams picking ahead of the Pirates went for college players. Griffin, the high schooler, was thought to be too risky. Yet he’s the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball, not just the Pirates, according to MLB Pipeline. Who’s laughing now?

Griffin joins an elite group of players who have been named Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year. Over the previous nine years alone, that list includes Jackson Holliday, Gunnar Henderson, Bobby Witt Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ronald Acuña Jr., and Blake Snell.

Griffin is projected to arrive in the majors in 2027, but don’t be surprised if we see him there sooner. Granted the traditional invitation to the major league spring training, he impressed in the exhibition games. The right-handed batter went just 2-for-11 at the plate, but one of those hits was a long, opposite-field home run. He didn’t look overmatched. He impressed observers in center field as well, making several fine running catches.

Everybody knew his time in spring training with the big club would be short. But the honors kept coming. Griffin was selected to play in the Pirates’ Spring Breakout Game, where he was 0-for-3, and the All-Star Futures Game, where he was 1-for-2.

The Last Word

Pirates fans would love to see Griffin roaming PNC Park’s center field, where they’re dissatisfied with the underachieving Oneil Cruz, sooner rather than later. The Pirates front office will have cooler heads about the matter, however, and promote Griffin in due time. Whenever Griffin joins Paul Skenes and Bubba Chandler, things could get interesting in Pittsburgh.