No. 1 on Day 1? Top-ranked prospect Griffin could join exclusive club

At just 19 years old, Konnor Griffin looks ready for the big leagues.

The Pirates have yet to decide whether MLB's No. 1 prospect will be with the Major League club on Opening Day, but given how he has performed in Spring Training, he might be undeniable.

If Griffin does make the cut, he could become just the fifth player to debut on Opening Day as the game's top-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline. Here are the four No. 1 overall prospects who did play their first game on Opening Day. In short, it's a pretty special group.

Bobby Witt Jr., Royals (No. 1 in 2022)

Witt came up clutch on his first day in The Show. With the Guardians and Royals tied at 1-1 with two outs in the eighth inning at Kauffman Stadium, Witt strode to the plate with a runner on second base. He handled a high slider from Cleveland's Triston McKenzie and lined it into the left-field corner to bring home the eventual winning run on his first MLB hit.

Witt, who played third base in his debut, also flashed his strong arm in the field, robbing Andrés Giménez of a hit in the third inning. In just one day's work, we got to see why Witt would soon blossom into a Gold Glove Award winner and a batting champion. Less than two years after that introduction, the Royals anointed the sensational shortstop as the face of their franchise, signing Witt to a 14-year contract extension.

Shohei Ohtani, Angels (No. 1 in 2018)

Ohtani's MLB career is awash with superlatives. One of his first? In 2018, the 23-year-old became the youngest Japanese-born position player to appear in a Major League game. His first Spring Training provided disappointing results given the level of hype surrounding the two-way phenom; Ohtani went 4-for-32 with 10 strikeouts at the plate and allowed eight earned runs over 2 2/3 innings on the mound. But during the season's opening weekend in Oakland, Ohtani provided a small preview of the greatness ahead.

Batting eighth as the designated hitter on Opening Day, Ohtani picked up a single in his first big league at-bat. Three days later, he earned the win and a quality start on the mound versus the A's, striking out six batters over six innings.

Although injuries limited Ohtani to 10 starts as a pitcher and 114 total games, his 22 home runs, 151 OPS+ and 3.31 ERA all helped him run away with American League Rookie of the Year honors. Many more awards and multiple World Series championships would follow for the player who might be the best to grace a baseball diamond.

Jason Heyward, Braves (No. 1 in 2010)

Heyward attended high school in Georgia about 30 miles from the Braves' former home of Turner Field. So, Atlanta didn't have to look far for its first-round selection in the 2007 Draft. The No. 14 overall pick, Heyward went on to tear up the Minor Leagues as a teenager, batting .318 with a .508 slugging percentage. He earned a spot on the Braves' roster after recording an .847 OPS -- and damaging a handful of cars with his batting practice homers -- during 2010 Spring Training.

More than 53,000 people packed Turner Field for Opening Day to get a glimpse of the game's top prospect. He came to bat in the bottom of the first inning with two runners on base and, on his first swing as a big leaguer, launched a three-run homer far beyond the right-field fence. At 20 years and 239 days, Heyward was the eighth-youngest player in AL/NL history to go deep in his first Major League game, much less his first plate appearance.

The tater was punctuated by Braves broadcaster Chip Caray's memorable exclamation: "Welcome to The Show!"

Heyward was an All-Star in his rookie season and finished second to the Giants' Buster Posey in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.

Joe Mauer, Twins (No. 1 in 2004)

Mauer, a St. Paul native, was selected by his hometown team with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 Draft. By the end of the '03 season, he had played only 73 games above the High-A level, but after batting .341 with a .400 on-base percentage in 310 plate appearances at Double-A, the Twins decided the time was right for the 20-year-old to make his MLB debut.

That came on April 5, 2004, against Cleveland. Mauer, batting eighth, reached four times in five plate appearances. He walked in two of his first three trips to the plate before ripping a single up the middle for his first Major League hit to open the bottom of the ninth. He singled again in the 11th and scored for a second time on Shannon Stewart's walk-off three-run homer.

Mauer suffered a left knee injury two days later, and his season was over by mid-July. Still, a .308/.369/.570 slash line in 35 games was a good indication of what was to come from the three-time batting champion, 2009 AL MVP and first-ballot Hall of Famer.