Pirates phenom Konnor Griffin‘s hype train is at an all-time high right now. I’m not sure there’s a Pirates fan, even the most casual fan, that hasn’t heard about him yet. The hype reached a new level with this FanGraphs article where they declared him the top prospect in the game and noted that it’s not even close. And with all the hoopla surrounding Griffin, the question of spring training this year is: Will he make the Opening Day roster out of camp at the young age of just 19 years old?
Time will tell whether he makes the team out of camp or goes to Triple-A to start the season, but what if he makes it? What would that mean for Pirates history at his age? Where would that rank in the franchise’s 144 years of playing baseball? And when was the last time a 19-year-old played for the Pirates? I did some research on all of it…let’s dive into it.
Griffin was born on April 24, 2006 (my goodness, I graduated college in 2005) in Jackson, Mississippi and will turn 20 in about two months, but if he makes the team out of camp then he joins a short list in Pirates history. Yes, the Pirates have had teenagers play for them, 44 to be exact. If Griffin gets the call to go north with the Pirates, he would be the 45th teenager in Pirates history to play for the team. He’d also be the 37th 19-year-old if he makes it to Pittsburgh before April 24. And it hasn’t happened for a while.
The last 19-year-old to play for the Pirates was Aramis Ramirez who debuted in May of 1998, just two months shy of his 20th birthday. Ramirez wasn’t on the Opening Day, but once called up in May, he was on the team the rest of the season.
Before Ramirez, you have to go back a ways for the next 19-year-old to play for the Pirates who was outfielder Miguel Diloné in 1974. That was 52 years ago. Diloné got the callup in September of that year and mostly came in as a defensive replacement. He only registered three plate appearances in 12 games. Most of these teenagers that played were late season callups while Griffin has a chance to make the team on Opening Day.
Catcher Milt May was the next one before Diloné as he also received a September callup in 1970 at 19 years old. Bob Moose did the same in 1967, making two starts in September for the Buccos including a one-run complete game win in his second start. Third baseman Bob Barley was also 19 in 1962 when he made his debut with the Bucs, another late season callup in September.
Before all of them though, the late great Bill Mazeroski made his debut with the Pirates in July of 1956 at the ripe age of 19. Maz and Joe Cronin, who began his playing career with the Pirates in 1926, were the only teenagers to play for Pittsburgh who ended up in the Hall of Fame. Another cool factoid there.
As far as 18-year-olds go, there’s been just six players who played for the Pirates at that age with pitcher Red Swanson being the last to do so in 1955. And just for fun, the Pirates have seen two 17-year-old’s play for them and if you want to know some obscure Pirates trivia, they were catcher Nick Koback in 1953 and ol’ Andy Dunning in 1889. Koback played three seasons for the Bucs and was out of baseball before the age of 20 which is wild.
OK, I know what you’re asking, “but Ryan…who was the last teenager to make the roster on Opening Day?” I’m glad you asked. You have to go all the way back to 1952 when the Bucs must have said let’s go with a major youth rebuild because they had four teenagers on the team that year—Pitchers Jim Waugh and Bill Bell and outfielders Lee Walls and Bobby Del Greco. Waugh, Walls and Del Greco all started with the Pirates that season. Waugh was 18 and Walls and Del Greco were 19 years old at the time. So Konnor Griffin could be the youngest Pirates player to make the Opening Day roster since 1952. And none of those guys listed got the start on Opening Day, which is also on the table for Griffin. That’s 74 years ago…that’s the kind of history we’d be looking at if the Griffin makes the roster out of camp.
Even if Griffin goes to Triple-A to start the year for some extra seasoning and gets called up later in the season when he’s turned 20 already, he still would be the youngest Pirates player in 28 years, going back to 1998 with Ramirez. Speaking of Ramirez, let’s end this by taking a look at what age other popular franchise players who began their careers in Pittsburgh made their debut.
| Player | Age | Year |
| Aramis Ramirez | 19 | 1998 |
| Roberto Clemente | 20 | 1955 |
| Barry Bonds | 21 | 1986 |
| Arky Vaughan | 20 | 1932 |
| Andrew McCutchen | 22 | 2009 |
| Pedro Alvarez | 23 | 2010 |
| Paul Skenes | 21 | 2024 |
| Ralph Kiner | 23 | 1946 |
| Willie Stargell | 22 | 1962 |
| Dave Parker | 22 | 1973 |
| Bob Friend | 20 | 1951 |
Just looking at this list shows you how historic Griffin being up at age 19 or even 20 would be. In recent years, the youngest player was Liover Peguero who was 21 when he made his debut in 2022. And in the last decade, there’s only been four players who were teenagers in the Majors across all of MLB per Baseball Reference’s Stathead. They are Junior Caminero, Elvis Luciano, Juan Soto and Julio Urias. That’s it.
It’s just something you don’t see very much of these days and especially not with the Pirates. But the Pirates front office has been doing things a bit different as of late. They have been making moves this offseason, unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory so I wouldn’t write them completely off for bringing Griffin to Pittsburgh early if he shows out in spring training over the next month. We’ll know soon enough, but what a story it would be for the number one prospect in the game.
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