North Shore Nine

Welcome to the weekly Scouting Prospects; The New Additions series. Each week we will take a look at a different one of the newly added Pirates Top 30 prospects. These prospects will all be newly added as they were just drafted in the recent MLB Amateur draft. The format of these articles will highlight and discuss the following.

• Scouting Score
• Performance
• Expectations
• Projected Debut
  
  When it comes to scouting grades, the scale used is 20-80. So, a 20-30 grade would be considered well below average. A 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average (Also called Plus) and 70-80 is well above average (or Plus Plus). For prospects the overall grade is where scouts expect the player to perform once in the majors. For example, a 65 grade would be an All-Star caliber standout player, whereas a 50 would be an everyday player and a 40 would be a bench player.

Konnor Griffin:

The Pittsburgh Pirates one year after getting Paul Skenes with the 1:1 pick in the draft, picked 9th. With that selection they took Konnor Griffin an 18-year-old kid out of Jackson prep, who plays shortstop as well as outfield. Upon entering the Pirates system, Pipeline immediately ranked him as 2nd in the Pirates system only behind Bubba Chandler, as well as 55th in all of baseball.

Griffin comes in rated as only an average hitter, the opposite of where Termarr Johnson was rated after being drafted. However, Griffin rates out with plus power, nearly plus-plus running, a plus-plus arm and plus fielding. Overall, he rates as just above an everyday player. It is really hard to judge these players in high school ratings wise so a lot can change over the next season or two as he gets some professional experience. Scouts do claim he has the “5 tool” potential that fans love to hear. He has some issues with the strike zone at time, however his quick bat speed has made up the difference for him so far there. Some scouts believe with his speed and power he could be a 30-30 player, which is exactly what Oneil Cruz is trying to be. Griffin stands at 6’4″ already weighing around 200 pounds, getting into the Pirates system and adding muscle to that frame could make him a dangerous man. Scouts argue if his best position will be short stop or centerfield, where some think he could be a gold glove player. Also likes Cruz when throwing the ball across the diamond he can hit mid 90’s easily at times, something that would be a great benefit to a centerfielder.

At 18 Griffin is more than a few years away from making his MLB debut. He will likely start next season in the rookie league and depending on how that experience is he could start to progress his way through the system. This is not a Skenes situation where he will be at the big-league level in under a year. However, if all goes well in his development he could be playing in PNC within 4-5 years if all goes very well. Keep an eye on how he handles the transition next year, that will be a clear indicator on how he might begin to progress to the black and gold.