Griffin's best asset -- work ethic -- on full display in impressive MLB debut

PITTSBURGH -- Konnor Griffin had swung through two breaking balls, with a third one out of the zone sandwiched in between, in his first Major League at-bat. He fouled off slider number four in a row from Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish. Surely, Bradish would challenge him with a heater at some point, especially considering that Griffin had struggled with fastballs just a couple of weeks prior in Spring Training games.

Instead, the 19-year-old phenom saw yet another breaker, this time a curve, and this time he was ready, slamming a 105.8 mph line-drive double to left-center field to bring in the Pirates’ first run of the game.

“I was just trying to be a tough out,” said Griffin, who went 1-for-3 with that RBI double, a run scored and a walk. “First AB, little jitters, I just wanted to get off a good swing on a good pitch. I was able to get a good one and do some damage.”

“What an at-bat,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “In his first at-bat, to drop a double like that, after the first two curveballs, and to stay with it. So mature as a 19-year-old, the ability to stay on that and to stay on the baseball.”

For those who have been around Griffin for any length of time, his ability to figure things out stands out as much, if not more, than his considerable raw tools. Since early on in his high school days, scouts in the South have known about Griffin, the premium athlete who would reclassify to be eligible for the 2024 Draft instead of a year later. There was nothing he couldn’t do on the baseball field -- a walking embodiment of the five-tool player -- though there were growing concerns about one tool in particular, the most important one: the hit tool.

The scouting industry will famously pick apart players being considered, especially at the top of the first round. And as gifted an athlete as Griffin was, with his raw power, close to top-of-the-scale speed and an arm that fired mid-90s fastballs as a prep pitcher, there were enough evaluators who saw the holes, the length in his swing, that despite having the loudest all-around tools in the class, he was never in the conversation to go No. 1 overall.

That obviously worked out for the Pirates, who were able to take him with their pick at No. 9 overall. Then Griffin did what will assuredly be his hallmark throughout his career: He got to work.

“The first thing you see is the specimen of an athlete he is, the explosiveness he moves around the field with. That’s what the organization clearly saw in him, a premier athlete,” said Jonathan Johnston, who has been the Pirates’ hitting coordinator since 2024. “When we had some looks at him coming into the Draft and into his first year, there were some straightforward things: He wasn’t controlling his forward move -- he was heavy on his front side -- and that led to the arm bar and some of the length in his swing and ball flight deficiencies that were question marks for some people. Clearly that had to get better.”

Johnston and the Pirates’ staff saw that play out during Griffin’s first unofficial time at the plate in the bridge league following the Florida Complex League after he signed. And they saw how their first-rounder immediately asked “How can I get better?”

“He came to our fall camp and our hitting guys got after it with his forward move control and working to stay behind the baseball,” Johnston said. “He took that and ran with it. Anything we put in front of him, he took it on as a challenge and he was going to figure it out. That’s one of his best qualities.”

Talk to anyone about Griffin and they mention the combination of athleticism and aptitude, and he has shown both during his meteoric rise, with the latter providing the kind of confidence he’ll use the former consistently that has led to the talk about a long-term deal. His ability to adjust at such a young age, when the easy thing would be for him to just rely on his freakish talent, has helped him every step of the way. It showed up early during his pro debut when he was swinging at just about everything out of the gate with Single-A Bradenton a year ago, putting up some garish chase rates.

“It was clear we needed to put a heavy focus on approach and developing it and how to attack pitchers with his strengths,” Johnston said. “We put that in front of him, within two weeks he was leading the Florida State League in all these categories.”

In Greensboro and Altoona, he quickly figured out each level. After his rough Spring Training, he took a beat, got back to work on who he is as a player, getting comfortable over a week in Triple-A to lead to this call-up.

“That’s been the goal for me at every level,” Griffin said ahead of his big league debut. “I knew there would be some adversity I would have to overcome. That’s why I love this game so much. There’s so much failure, but the feeling of success and overcoming struggle, that’s a good feeling.

“I don’t know what’s going to come from being at the highest level; I’m sure there’s going to be some ups and some downs, but knowing that I’ve been able to adjust so easily throughout the Minor Leagues, it gives me hope that no matter what happens, I’m going to continue to work hard and the results will be there.”