Kevin Griffin never forced it on his son, Konnor, to play baseball.
Despite Kevin coaching the softball team at Division III Belhaven University (Miss.) for the last 14 years, it was Konnor who fell in love with the game from a young age on his own.
Konnor was enamored with the difficulty of the sport, the joy he felt whenever he overcame adversity. Late-night hitting sessions with dad were always prompted at Konnor’s request.
Wednesday morning at PNC Park, the whole Griffin family got to reap the rewards of Konnor’s years of labor. The No. 9 overall pick in the 2024 MLB draft officially signed with the Pirates. It was a dream of Konnor’s coming to fruition but also for both of his parents.
“When you start out playing baseball at a young age, you don’t think about stuff like this,” Kevin told the Post-Gazette. “But as he got to be 12, 13, 14 years old, you could tell that he was a little bit different than a lot of the kids his age. ...
“To see it come full circle is a pretty special moment today.”
Sources told the Post-Gazette that the Pirates and Griffin, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound shortstop, agreed to a signing bonus of $6.53 million, a couple hundred thousand dollars over the slot value of $6.2 million for the No. 9 overall pick. With the bonus Griffin signed for, the Pirates will not forfeit any future draft picks.
When Griffin was selected a couple of weeks ago as the first high school player in the draft, he told reporters he was “definitely” ready to start his pro career and sign with the Pirates rather than fulfill his commitment to LSU. The 18-year-old doubled down on that stance Wednesday while seated next to Ben Cherington.
Griffin shared his appreciation for the Pirates general manager and the organization for entrusting their top pick to him.
“I just can't thank you enough for taking a chance on a small-town kid from Florence, Mississippi,” Griffin said. “I feel like I worked my tail off to get to this position, and I know there's a lot more work to be done. I can't wait to start this process. I know it's going to be a tough process. There's going to be adversity. But I'm ready to face that.”
There’s a plethora of reasons as to why Griffin feels he’s ready for the rigors of minor-league baseball. The product of Jackson Preparatory School in Flowood, Miss., reclassified from the 2025 to 2024 draft following his freshman year, turning from an older player relative to his peers into a younger one.
He faced some adversity at times but on the whole impressed during as decorated a prep career as any. It didn’t hurt for Griffin to receive his tutelage from Jay Powell, an 11-year MLB veteran who won the 1997 World Series with the Florida Marlins.
Powell coached Griffin from the time he was a teenager onward and served as an invaluable resource.
“He went through a similar process of getting drafted and he was just able to give me a ton of advice on what to expect during the minor leagues,” Griffin said. “I feel really prepared for what’s to come, just because he’s been able to pour into my life, tell me his journey, what he would do differently.
“And now, I have some great advice to take with me on the road.”
Griffin will also take all sorts of projectable skills with him to Pirate City, where he’s set to report in the near future. The five-tool talent wowed at the prep level with accomplishments and abilities running aplenty, stealing 85 bases his senior year while pumping fastballs as hot as 97 mph on the bump.
Cherington said the plan is for Griffin to start his minor-league career at shortstop, with center field as his secondary position. Though he won’t be a two-way player in the Pirates system, Griffin impressed the club’s front office enough with his potential that they selected him ninth overall.
“There’s a lot of things that he has a chance to do on a baseball field that not everyone can do,” Cherington said. “He’s young. He said it: He’s going to get good competition, good reps. Everyone needs that, but we’ve got a lot of folks excited to work with him.”
Griffin’s mother, Kim, is hopeful to catch some quick flights to Bradenton, Fla., once he starts to play in minor-league games. Not only is Kim proud of the baseball player her son has turned into but also for the way he’s conducted himself off the field.
“Seeing him and how much he’s grown through this process has been kind of rewarding as parents and makes us feel better about letting him go down to Bradenton,” Kim told the Post-Gazette. “We’re just excited for the journey.”
So, too, is Griffin to get to the big leagues in the coming years. Without any collegiate experience, he’ll naturally require a handful of seasons in the minors before he can hope to join the Pirates at the big-league level.
Still, the way the club has played has resonated with Griffin. Since rookie sensation Paul Skenes made his MLB debut in May, Griffin has done his best to catch as many of the former LSU hurler’s starts on television as possible.
While Griffin will have to keep observing the Pirates from afar for a while, that reality hasn’t slowed his appetite to contribute as quickly as he can.
“Can’t wait to hopefully, in a few years, be a part of that team and try to win a World Series,” Griffin said. “It’s been fun watching over the past few weeks, but now it’s time to start my pro career, try to get to the big leagues and help them win games.”
Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and @AndrewDestin1 on X
First Published: July 31, 2024, 1:43 p.m.
Updated: August 1, 2024, 9:41 a.m.