Konnor Griffin: Major League Baseball's Top Prospect

Watch Konnor Griffin: Major League Baseball's Top Prospect - SportsGrid on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00I'm really excited to also talk about the number one prospect in baseball,

00:05and that is Connor Griffin of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

00:09The floor is yours because I could ask a ton of questions

00:12about why this guy is so incredible, but I'll let you take it away.

00:17You know how sad it made me to not have Connor Griffin

00:20or not have Kevin McGonigal at number one,

00:22given how high we've been on him for so long.

00:24But I always just boil it down to this.

00:28Like, we put out the top 100 midseason update at the end of July.

00:35Connor Griffin was number two.

00:37From August 1st onward, Connor Griffin, at 19 years old,

00:43hit AA mostly, hit .351 with a .988 OPS,

00:48stole a trillion bags, hit eight homers,

00:51and was playing plus defense at shortstop while also mixing in in center field

00:55where he looks like he could be a good defender.

00:57It's just crazy stuff.

01:00I was talking to our guys at Bucko Banner,

01:02who hosted the Pirates podcast on our network,

01:04and I was like, what do you think the positional split's going to be for him?

01:07And he said that Connor had mentioned on the show to them

01:09that the Pirates would have him play center field.

01:13They kind of said, you'll play center field when you're slumping,

01:15just so we can just change it up for you and refresh things.

01:18Well, he never slumped, so then they just kind of threw him out into center field

01:22just once or twice a week.

01:23But you're talking about plus-plus power,

01:26and I think he's still tapping into more even though he hit 21 home runs this year,

01:30plus-plus speed, the ability to play a good center field,

01:33cutting down on the strikeout rate as the season progressed.

01:35As an 18-year-old, 19-year-old, with those tools to strike out from June onward

01:41like sub-20% with an OPS nearly of 1,000,

01:44and there's still more power to tap into there.

01:47He is that tool set and production at an age that you don't expect it already

01:53that is reminiscent of some of the best prospects we've seen,

01:56of the Bobby Witts and guys like that.

01:57And that's why you can't deny him as the number one prospect,

02:01as a true five-tool potential star.