Cherington on the Griffin question, the rotation and the outfield

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Ben Cherington knew it was coming.

Both in Spring Training and again Sunday morning.

It’s the wildly popular and much-discussed Konnor Griffin question: How to handle the best prospect in baseball and whether or not he makes the Opening Day roster.

The Pirates general manager did not make some sort of grand proclamation while meeting with reporters at LECOM Park, nor did anyone expect that.

Cherington simply praised Griffin, said his strong showing is pretty much what the Pirates expected, and that tough decisions will forever be welcomed.

“He’s been impressive, as we anticipated he would be,” Cherington said. “Knowing Konnor, the physical skills and who he is as a person, we anticipated that he would do good things in spring training. And he has.”

Griffin has hit .200 with a .923 OPS in 20 at-bats over eight spring games, including three home runs and a few hard-hit balls that didn’t fall.

The 19-year-old certainly looks the part, but there’s much more that goes into the decision, Cherington explained.

Here’s a deeper look at that question, as well as two more takeaways from the GM’s availability.

Will he or won’t he?

That’s what Pirates fans want to know: Will Griffin start the season in New York against the Mets, or will the Pirates send him to Triple-A Indianapolis?

Nothing has been determined at this point, Cherington said.

“I just think we haven’t gotten there,” Cherington said, when asked whether he anticipated Griffin remaining in big league camp for its entirety. “Take it a day at a time. As we get a little deeper into March, we’ll start making decisions as we get closer with the roster.”

The reasons why the Pirates would keep Griffin aren’t hard to deduce. The loud tools. The soft-spoken, respectful demeanor. Plus Griffin’s focus, maturity and all that fun stuff. The highlight-reel homers sure haven’t hurt.

On the flip side, Griffin has just 98 plate appearances at Double-A, none at Triple-A. Alex Rodriguez had 128 PAs at Triple-A by the time he debuted at age 18 in July 1994.

Griffin’s an incredible player. He’ll be a star. It’s just an incredibly tall hill he’s trying to climb.

The Pirates haven’t made a decision because they don’t have to at this point. Their focus remains doing what’s best for Griffin long-term.

“We believe we have a responsibility as an organization with Konnor,” Cherington said. “He’s got a chance to have a really good, long career. It’s our job to do everything we can to support him to be in the best spot possible to do that.

“Obviously we want to try and marry that up with helping the Pirates win as many games as possible, too. That will continue to guide us.”

One last point on Griffin: No, the Pirates aren’t basing this decision solely on batting average. Myriad factors influence the decision, and they extend far beyond Grapefruit League play.

There are physical traits or improvements, which help Griffin’s cause. There are also developmental checkpoints all organizations want to see. Plus tougher-to-quantify ideas like taking coaching, confidence and comfortability.

“In terms of performance in a game, it’s really noisy,” Cherington said. “You try to control for sample size and who they’re facing.

“That's why we generally owe it to players to look at the entire body of work and not just Spring Training.”

Pitching in

A consistent storyline for the Pirates throughout Spring Training has been who wins the No. 5 starter job.

Per Cherington, it may be more complicated than dropping one guy into that spot and calling it good.

That’s nothing against Jose Urquidy, Carmen Mlodzinski, Hunter Barco, Thomas Harrington or Mike Clevinger, who’ve combined for a 3.00 ERA. It’s more a function of the Pirates’ situation with so many young guys and being willing to embrace non-traditional usage.

“We’re trying to prepare a group of pitchers to be in a position to help us win games,” Cherington said. “Exactly what the roles are, with some it’s more clear. We know what Paul Skenes is gonna be doing. We know what Mitch Keller is going to be doing.

“With others, we’re still learning. We believe in the group. We’ve seen this spring that we’ve got guys with pitch qualities and the ability to execute to get major league hitters out. It’s just a matter of how we’re going to use them all.”

The strategy makes sense on a few different fronts, although this doesn’t mean the Pirates will limit everyone to three or fewer innings per start. It’s merely a way to leverage strengths and set the group up for success over 162 games.

Take Braxton Ashcraft and Bubba Chandler, for example. They threw 118 and 131 1/3 innings, respectively, in 2025. It’s unlikely they’d jump more than 25 innings or so in 2026, so the strategy becomes how to best spend those innings.

Urquidy and Clevinger have battled injuries over the past few seasons. Jared Jones will be returning from internal brace surgery. Barco and Harrington haven’t pitched much in the big leagues. Mlodzinski has been terrific facing hitters the first time but has seen results decline after repeated exposure.

Creative usage, even piggybacking starters, could help keep innings in check while also deploying several styles of effective pitching.

“What we’re looking for as guys get their pitch counts up is how they’re holding their stuff and execution as they get deeper into outings, and you start to think about how guys can come together to form the best group of 13 that we can leave Florida with,” Cherington said. “Some of them will be pitching in traditional starting roles. We may ask some to pitch in different roles to help us win games. Still thinking about it that way and less specific than 3-4-5-6. As we get closer to the flight to New York, we’ll have a better sense of that.”

Outfield encouragement

The outfield was another question for the Pirates back in February. At roughly the midpoint down here, Cherington said he’s been extremely encouraged by what he’s seen out of Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz and Ryan O’Hearn.

It’s not to say everything has been perfect. Cruz lost a ball in the sun against the Braves. Reynolds reached base in six of his first eight plate appearances but has been on just once in hit past nine. It’s also nitpicking.

O’Hearn (7-for-14, two home runs, seven RBIs) has hardly looked out of place in right field, while Cruz hit a home run in the World Baseball Classic that may or may not have landed yet. He’s also impressed everyone with his work ethic and maturity this spring.

“I was at Pirate City the other night when [Cruz] hit the home run,” Cherington said. “There was a group of like 60 guys watching, and you could hear an eruption through the entire building. It was cool. Look forward to seeing him do that in a Pirates uniform.”