PHOENIX — Pittsburgh Pirates 2024 first-round pick (No. 9 overall) Konnor Griffin knows all about getting somewhere in a hurry. The 2023-24 national Gatorade Player of the Year reclassified from the 2025 draft to be eligible in this year’s class, finishing high school in just three years. The shortstop/center fielder also stole 87 bases in his final season for Jackson Prep in Flowood, Miss. Now he’ll be attempting to blaze a path to the big leagues.
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The grueling minor-league schedule might seem like a breeze for Griffin, who had to take enough classes the last two years to finish three different grade levels while also balancing the time constraints and scrutiny of being one of the top high school prospects in the draft class. He made it look easy this season, hitting .559 with nine home runs and those 87 stolen bases, while also going 10-0 on the mound with a 0.72 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 67 2/3 innings.
Konnor Griffin is a menace on the basepath 💨 #PGNational pic.twitter.com/r43n5truCH
— Perfect Game USA (@PerfectGameUSA) July 14, 2023
Griffin, who turned 18 on April 24, knew moving up a year in the draft was going to require a lot of extra work, but he relished the opportunity to challenge himself against more advanced competition.
“I wanted to push myself to play against the best players I could,” he said during the MLB Draft Combine last month. “And I was an older kid for the ’25 class. So now I’m a super young kid, for the ’24 class, which is good, because I needed to face some adversity in the game because it’ll prepare me for the future.”
That future looks bright, as Griffin brings an impressive set of tools with him to professional baseball. Ranked No. 10 by The Athletic’s Keith Law ahead of the draft, Law gives Griffin four 60 or better tool grades (on the 20-80 scouting scale), noting his arm, speed, power and defensive ability are all plus. Law has some concerns about Griffin’s hit tool, but also says he has “superstar upside — it’s 30/30 potential with plus defense somewhere up the middle — for a club that can develop his bat and has the patience to let him move at his own pace.”
That pace has been fast so far. Griffin had the green light to run every time he was on base this spring. Even with opposing teams well aware that he was going, they couldn’t stop him.
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“I would try to get to second pretty quick, but some teams would throw over seven or eight times. That ninth pitch, though, I was going,” he said. “That helped my team win. I was able to get to second and get to third and I had great players behind me to get me home. My biggest goal was to win a state championship, so I was doing whatever I could to help us win.”
Griffin was caught once. It came on an attempted steal of home.
“It was after the catcher was throwing it back, but unfortunately he kind of threw it hard back to the pitcher and the pitcher caught it and threw it back, so they got me,” he said.
Griffin has experience at both shortstop and center field. At 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, Griffin may eventually get too big for shortstop, but for the moment, he’s been able to handle both positions well. He prefers shortstop for now but also values his versatility.
“I think I will play shortstop until the team feels like I need to move to the outfield,” he said. “That’s a tool I have that I’m able to play in different positions. I think that’ll be a bigger thing for teams to look at and be able to use me in different ways, because that’s the type of player I am.”
Griffin doesn’t plan to pursue a two-way path in pro ball, but his fastball has been clocked as high as 96 mph off the mound.
“I’m definitely going to keep that in my back pocket,” Griffin said of pitching. “I threw every week, which was fun because I’m a competitor and I love to win. I knew my teams had a great opportunity to win if I was on the mound.
“I’m going to prioritize hitting and being a defensive player first, but if I ever need to fall back on pitching, I’ll definitely have it.”
Scouts have raved about Griffin’s makeup, and perhaps, then, it isn’t surprising that he’s the son of a coach. His father, Kevin, is the head softball coach and assistant athletic director for Belhaven University. Coaching takes Kevin on the road a lot during the season, but he was able to sneak home in early June to present his son with the national Gatorade Player of the Year award, making it even more special for Griffin. He’s the first to win the award from Mississippi for high school baseball.
“My dad’s the person that I’ve always hit with. He’s my trainer,” Griffin said. “I’m just super glad to have a parent that pours into my life like that.”
What a ride for the Griffin family!
After becoming the first coach to take a MS softball team to a NCAA College World Series, Kevin Griffin made it back just in time to give the Gatorade National POTY trophy to his son, Konnor Griffin.
A family of Mississippi firsts!⚾️🥎 pic.twitter.com/Q9qmPLz6u7
— Bradley Davis (@DdavisBradley) June 6, 2024
Growing up in Mississippi, Griffin has followed the Braves closely and he counts Ronald Acuña Jr. as his favorite player. He’s heard scouts compare his game to Bobby Witt Jr. He loves watching and learning from both players.
Teams don’t take players as high as Griffin was selected without having confidence they can sign them, but should negotiations break down, Griffin has a strong fallback option with a commitment to LSU.He was attracted to that program because of their track record developing professional baseball players, and he’s grown close to two 2024 draft prospects — William Schmidt and Derek Curiel — who also have commitments to LSU. But at the combine, it was clear that Griffin is eager to start his professional journey. He admitted it was stressful not knowing where he’d end up, but he was putting his trust in a higher power.
“I give all the glory to God, and I just put all of it in his hands and just try to sit back and relax and let it fall out how it needs to fall out,” he said. “So whatever team picks me, that’s the right team for me. And I’ll know that for sure.”
(Photo: Mary DeCicco / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Melissa Lockard is a senior editor and writer for The Athletic. She edits MLB content and focuses her writing on MLB prospects and draft coverage, with a particular focus on the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants. Before joining The Athletic, she covered baseball for a variety of outlets, including Scout.com, 2080baseball.com and FoxSports. She is the founder of OaklandClubhouse.com. Follow Melissa on Twitter @melissalockard
