Konnor Griffin is on his way to the Majors. The Pirates are intending to promote MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect prior to their home opener on Friday -- several weeks before his 20th birthday.
At 19 years old, Griffin will find himself in rare company as soon as he takes the field for the first time.
Here are some fun stats and facts surrounding Griffin’s debut.
• As we noted above, Griffin will spend several weeks playing for the Pirates as a 19-year-old before turning 20 on April 24. He’ll become the first teenaged position player to appear in an MLB in eight years. The last to do it? Juan Soto in 2018.
Soto was 19 years old for all 116 games in his rookie season with the Nationals, which saw him slash .292/.406/.517 with 22 homers. He's gone on to have quite the career so far, leading to him signing the richest contract in professional sports history (15 years, $765 million) with the Mets in December 2024.
• It was a bit more common to see players reach the Majors as teenagers in past eras, but Griffin will be just the 13th to do so since 2000, including pitchers. In addition to Soto, that group includes the likes of Bryce Harper (2012), Mike Trout (2011), Félix Hernández (2005) and both B.J. Upton (2004) and Justin Upton (2007).
• Right-hander Elvis Luciano, who made 25 appearances for the Blue Jays as a 19-year-old in 2019, was the last teenager to appear in an MLB game at any position.
• It’s been nearly 30 years since the Pirates in particular had a teenager play for them. Aramis Ramirez was the last one to do it, appearing in 25 games as a 19-year-old in 1998.
• The Pirates had 11 teenagers play for them in the 1950s alone, with franchise icon Bill Mazeroski (’56) among them. But Griffin will be just the fifth teenager to suit up for the Bucs since then, joining Bob Bailey (1962), Bob Moose (’67), Miguel Dilone (’74) and Ramirez.
• You also have to go back to the 1990s to find a teenaged position player who was in the Majors this early in a season. Future Hall of Famer Adrian Beltré was the last one to make an appearance within his team’s first seven games, doing so for the Dodgers when he started at third base on Opening Day in 1999.
• At 19 years and 344 days old on Friday, Griffin will become the youngest position player to play in a game within his team’s first seven games since another future Hall of Famer, Andruw Jones, in 1997.
Jones made his MLB debut for the Braves the previous August and became the youngest player to homer in a World Series game that fall.