The Pirates’ Biggest Decision Is Here And It's Konnor Griffin

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So I was talking to Anthony DeNardo in Bradenton, Florida last week, reminiscing about how like

eight, nine years ago, I was a freelance journalist trying to cover baseball.

North Shore Nine was this little fan podcast.

And how, in the time that had come past, we had both blossomed into something a little

bigger, becoming a big part of the Pirates discussion coverage.

So maybe it's only fitting that, you know, like peanut butter and chocolate.

Here we are.

Join together.

Good morning.

My name is Alex Stumpf, and this is the inaugural episode of Off Beat, here on the North

Shore Nine Airwaves, presented by Fandall.

Just to introduce what this show is going to be.

This is going to be a daily Monday through Friday podcast, where we're going to talk for

about if team minutes about what's going on with the Pirates.

You know, what I'm hearing from inside the Pirates Clubhouse, observations I have about

the team.

It could be a little bit analytical one episode.

It could be more.

Call them the next.

I'm looking forward to this.

This is going to be a fun endeavor.

And I don't know if there is a topic that you can, you can't undersell how much everyone

wants to hear about Conor Griffin.

So new podcasts, we're going to start off right out of the gate with a Conor Griffin

podcast.

The kid's pretty special.

Like I went to Florida earlier this week, got to watch him in person.

There's some mighty cuts, he's liked throughout the organization, he makes positive impacts.

This is someone who is the top prospect in the game, talent wise, you totally see it,

make up wise, you totally see it.

There's only really one question with Conor Griffin this spring.

And that is when are we going to see him in Pittsburgh?

It's pretty unheard of that a teenager has a legitimate shot to make the opening day

roster, but he's got one.

And if he doesn't make the opening day roster, I think we could all safely assume he is

going to be in Pittsburgh in 2026.

But there's something about being on that opening day team that is special.

Like we saw two years ago with Jared Jones, compared to like Paul Schienz and Schienz,

there were a lot of other circumstances.

He hadn't built up the innings, it was a completely different setup for him.

He had never pitched six, seven months in a year, completely different set of circumstances.

But remember how exciting it was whenever Jared Jones actually made the opening day team

and he went to Miami that first start and he just shoved and he got 150 whiffs it felt

like.

It was so fun.

It was so different.

It was so not what we had become accustomed to how the parts treat their prospects.

Jared Jones showed that he was on, you know, major league ready and he got put on the team.

Connor Griffin could show still in the back half of spring training that yeah, you got

put me on the opening day team, but as it stands right now, it's been a good spring.

He's run into a couple, not a lot of bad and ball and play look, but you know, it's

a small sample size, everything.

You've seen all of the tools play.

He doesn't look overmatched, he doesn't look uncomfortable.

It's what you would want out of something like this.

So let's just jump into the question.

Does Connor Griffin make the opening day team?

Maybe, maybe the vibe I got this off season was that it was a distinct possibility.

And it wasn't contingent on him signing a long term extension.

That was the vibe back then.

I can't say definitively if that's changed or not, but at one point this off season

is like, yeah, he could make the opening day team without a long term extension.

Now that comes with an obvious aster here.

I think everyone would prefer on the park side at least that if he was part of the opening

day team, it's because his future is secured for years to come and they don't have to worry

about, you know, the year of control or anything or how much he's going to be paid or anything

like that.

He is someone who, if he was to sign a long term extension in Pittsburgh, it would be

the largest contract in franchise history.

It would be, I think it's very safe to assume more than what Roman Anthony got from the Red

Sox.

Like it would be a pretty unprecedented contract for not only to the organization, but majorly

baseball, you know, someone who has yet to appear in a game in the major leagues, someone

who has yet to appear a game in AAA.

So I have heard some optimism from the part side of things that, yeah, like, yeah, this

could get done.

I don't like putting percentages or anything like that.

Get used to that sentence being said a bunch on this podcast going forward.

But like, yeah, it's, it's a real possibility.

It's not like, okay, they could sign Kyle Schwarber type of deal because they're, you know,

in the mix and they're talking and they're going to make an offer.

It's like, no, this, this is a more of a, not saying that he will, but I would expect that

an offer will be made that people are not going to bat an eye at of like, well, yeah, that

was just insulting offer.

No, it's not going to be that like it will be legitimate whenever it does eventually come

as Jeff Besson and basically everyone has hinted that it's, it's in an inevitability

at this point that there will be at least an offer.

I do want to address a couple points though of why the parts don't need to start the season

with Connor at shortstop and why they do have a little bit of leverage here with, you

know, these negotiations because being on an opening day team is part of this equation.

I, I covered one of these before in 2020 with Cabrion Hayes and how important it was

for him to try to make the opening day team and how that factored into the contract discussions

that he and the team were having at the time.

Obviously, COVID happened.

He was not physically able to be ready for the opening day in, in 2020, so it ended

up all being a moot point, but there were serious negotiations because Cabrion wanted

to be on that opening day team.

I would expect the same for Connor.

It's a big ship in the pirates, that the pirates have right now, whatever comes to negotiating.

Like they have the, they're still the inevitability of maybe you are not all that on a bag of chips,

even though, I mean, like I said, everyone really is high on this kid.

I don't know how much leverage power there is, but there is always that son of nine figure

contract and your family will never one for anything.

That's worth a lot of security, especially if, you know, you do it year wise that, you

know, he could still hit free agency and get another bite at the apples later.

But for now, parts have that negotiating chip, see if they're able to parlay that into

actually, you know, signing him, but it's not as dire a situation on the left side of

the infield as I think a lot of people who anticipated coming into camp.

Tyler Callahan is not the sexiest of acquisitions.

The pirates have made this winner, but I see the appeal.

He's a left handed bet.

He can contribute at their base.

There was some offensive upside there like it's not saying that he's the ideal guy you

go into an office and be like, yeah, he's on every day, third baseman.

But if he does play third base, then you have a little flexibility.

Either Jared Shriolo can start a shortstop, Nick Gonzalez, maybe he starts a shortstop

and Shriolo can bounce between the two.

Maybe Callahan is just depth in it.

Now with those three names, I don't think anyone would really argue if Conor Griffith

is the everyday shortstop.

I don't think anyone's going to be, you know, cursing, you know, it's like, man, I really

wanted to see all three of those guys get 500 at bats.

But they do have some level of depth.

They do have some level of upside with that depth that if they can't come into an agreement

or if they just feel like, you know what, Conor, there's more you could do in AAA before

you get called up, they have that flexibility.

And I do think Conor Griffith is still developing, growing as a player.

He'll tell you the same.

I think everyone will tell you the same.

And maybe it's controversial.

In my opinion, some of that development could happen in Indianapolis.

If he was to start the year in AAA, I don't think it's detrimental to his development.

I think there are areas of his game that he can continue to improve, that he can do

so in Indianapolis.

He could also do those points at Pittsburgh.

So I don't want to sound like I'm talking the kid out of a roster spot here.

Like if he was in Pittsburgh, I think he can continue to develop, he can continue to

get better.

But just something small I've seen out of the spring.

It's a very small sample size.

But you know those home runs, Conor's been hitting, they've been off speed, they've been

breaking stuff.

And there are parts of that swing that are beautiful.

That first one that he hit in the Fort Myers against the Red Sox.

The follow through that he had on that swing was beautiful.

That was a hanging breaking ball.

It's one of those, you know, the home run that was pitched, not hit.

But it's like, no, that one was also hit just the way he was able to have that body control

to not let the barrel get too far out in front that he pulls it foul.

It was a beautiful piece of hitting.

A lot of his best swings have been against off speed and breaking stuff though.

Like this is a very small sample size here, but coming into Wednesday hitting 077 with

a 29.2% whiff rate against fastballs.

No extra bass hits either.

That was a single.

So like, it's a, it's a sample size of what is that 13 at bats.

Hitters allowed to go one for 13.

Here we hitter is going to have a stretch this year where they go one for 13.

It is what it is, but the parts have traditionally looked at how a hitter does against fastballs

to determine how close they are to being matially ready, especially higher velocity fastballs.

Pitches that are 95, 96 and above, you know, how do they perform against them and Griffin

just hasn't had a large sample size of that this spring.

So there is that level of uncertainty still in his game.

Now I hold no misgivings.

I think he's going to be able to catch up to that velocity.

He is going to do well.

Some of those at bats are in February where, you know, it's just been a couple days in

camp, you know, pitchers always start ahead of hitters.

There are, I can give you a list of reasons here, but that's just one little, I don't want

to say red flag, but it's something that's raised my eyebrow here.

Basically to say, he is a man, he is an 18 year old man, he is not a god, he is not an

adornous, he is, he could come up and just set the baseball world on fire.

I wouldn't be shocked if he did, like he has that potential to be one of the best short

stops in the game out of the gate.

And I think he does a pretty good job processing pressure.

Like whenever I was up in Brainerton earlier this month, we talked just for like five minutes

about how he did that, how he leans on his family, how he has, you know, trust support.

It's, it wasn't anything groundbreaking, but it's one of the things I really wanted

to know of, hey, you are a 19 year old that everyone is saying you are doing everything

perfectly right now.

How do you process, you know, either failure or just those feelings and stuff like, and

the way he talked about it, it was impressive.

But how much stress do you want to put on, you know, the kid, like it's, there's a lot

going on here.

I saw the Orioles with Jackson holiday two years ago, start him in triple life for a little

bit and then call him up whenever they could still get the draft compensation.

There's the contract aspect, like I said, that's, it's his opening day spot isn't contingent.

I imagine that hasn't changed from what I heard this off season isn't contingent on signing

a long term deal, but again, boy, it would make the whole thing a whole lot simpler.

But if you don't sign him to that long term deal, if you don't put him on the opening day

roster, I think there is some depth, but where is the fun in that?

Where is the fun in that?

Everyone in the baseball world would like to see Connor Griffin make the opening day team.

And I think there's a distinct possibility.

And if he does, I think there's tremendous upside.

There are just some things that I just have a couple of points up here that I'm just

pinning up on the board, and we're going to see how they develop these last couple

weeks in spring and see if he's going to be heading north to New York to start the year.

This has been the inaugural episode of Offbeat here at North Shore 9 presented by Fandall.

We're going to be doing a lot more of these this year.

Thanks for listening.

See you tomorrow.

All right.

That wraps up this episode of North Shore 9.

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From NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the innovative technology across Exfinity

and Peacock, Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America, sharing every moment with

millions.

When Team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching, we're cheering together.

This winter, we're all on the same team.

Comcast, proud partner of Team USA.

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