BRADENTON, Fla. — Nothing about Konnor Griffin is common.

Griffin stands 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, with a statuesque build that could be chiseled from marble. He plays shortstop, baseball’s premier position, and his five-tool talent shined across three levels in his first professional season to earn minor league player of the year honors.

Only 19, Griffin entered spring training as the consensus No. 1 prospect, intent on winning the starting job at shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates amid attention that would make the typical teenager squirm. As much as Griffin marvels at playing against major leaguers he once idolized, he is cherishing the chance to chase a childhood dream.

“What I really didn’t know when I was a kid was how much goes into being a top prospect or a big leaguer,” he said. “There’s a lot that goes into behind closed doors, with outside noise and other factors that want to steal the happiness and excitement of playing this game. I’m trying to do the best I can to navigate that and go out there and play the game I’ve been playing since I was 5 years old.”

Griffin is proving to be anything but your typical teenager. He’s already way ahead of the curve. The ease and humility with which Griffin handles the hype from national outlets anointing him a superstar before he’s even made his MLB debut has only impressed major leaguers. Everyone calls Griffin a kid, but to say he’s mature beyond his years is a disservice. A devout Christian, he married his sweetheart since the eighth grade, Dendy Hogan, in January and talked about how “being able to finally get married after all those years was unbelievable.”

The Jackson, Miss., native exudes Southern charm and politeness that can be disarming to those expecting someone of his status to be cocksure. Yet Griffin speaks with a sense of self-confidence, especially when he states that his goal is to have a career worthy of the Hall of Fame. Despite drawing comparisons to Bryce Harper — a former teen phenom who called Griffin a “stud” — Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds has been impressed with how Griffin has comported himself in the clubhouse.

“Just how he acts, how he carries himself is really going to transform into performance,” Reynolds said. “A 19-year-old kid who’s the No. 1 prospect and has had the write-ups on him that he’s had, it would be really easy to be an arrogant tool — and he’s not at all. He’s a great kid.”

Whether Griffin is ready to be the Opening Day starter for the Pirates is the biggest storyline of spring training, one that has sparked great debate as Griffin attempts to join Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. as teenagers to earn that distinction.

“As long as he’s good enough — and I think he is — but the person doesn’t concern me at all,” said Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, who won National League Rookie of the Year honors in 2024 and is the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner. “He’s ready for the lights and the showiness of it all. … He’s 19. You’re supposed to get exposed when you’re 19. But nothing about him is common.”

‘Ready to face adversity’

Griffin was the Gatorade national player of the year at Jackson Prep in Flowood, Miss., but slipped to the No. 9 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft because of concerns about his hit tool. With long levers comes an elongated swing, so some scouts doubted whether Griffin would be able to handle pitching at advanced levels.

After signing for a $6,532,025 bonus, the Pirates assigned Griffin to play in the Florida Complex League. After facing higher velocity and different pitches than he’d seen in high school, Griffin returned home and worked with his father, Kevin — who coaches softball at Division III Bellhaven — to make adjustments to his swing.

“I’m big on challenging myself,” Griffin said. “I’m never going to be scared of a challenge. That’s one thing, I’m going to show up and be ready to face adversity. This game is going to throw a lot at you, so I’ve always been that type of guy — and I think it’s been good for me.”

The results were resounding. Griffin batted .333/.415/.527 with 23 doubles, four triples, 21 home runs, 94 RBIs and 117 runs scored while stealing 65 bases in 122 games, starting the season at Low-A Bradenton and finishing it at Double-A Altoona.

“I was talking to a buddy that asked me about Konnor Griffin,” said Pirates manager Don Kelly, also a 6-4 shortstop who spent parts of nine seasons in the majors. “I said, ‘I never looked like that at 19.’ Then I stopped myself. I’m like, ‘You know, I never looked like that ever.’ It’s unbelievable what he’s able to do on the baseball field. To be able to do that at 19, to have the season that he had last year, it was amazing.”

Featured Local Businesses

More local businesses

What Kelly finds fascinating are the adjustments Griffin makes to adapt to the speed of the game and questions he asks. Griffin made waves when he smashed a hanging curveball by Boston Red Sox left-hander Ranger Suarez, a 2024 All-Star who signed a five-year, $130 million contract in free agency, over the replica Green Monster at Fenway South in Fort Myers. What impressed Kelly was how Griffin, after making a throwing error, immediately asked Pirates infield coach Chris Truby for feedback before hitting another homer at an 111.2-mph exit velocity.

“Sometimes, when you get young guys — and I know when I made an error like that, I didn’t want to talk to anybody — you just go and isolate and try to figure out on your own,” Kelly said. “He doesn’t dwell on it. Then he goes out and hits a 440-foot homer. The maturity level to move past it — yes, it’s an error; you’re going to make errors — but how do you move past it, continue to play fundamental baseball and work to get better every day?

“That’s going to be the big thing for him, adjusting to the speed of the game. He has the athleticism, the arm, the speed. How do we help him adjust to the speed of the game? He’s very in tune and adjusts quickly. He expects himself to be great — and also understands that failure is part of it.”

Griffin vowed to be a sponge this spring, so he treats every moment as a lesson learned. Whether that’s following a strikeout by getting a hit off Skenes or striking out against Bubba Chandler, both bring value to Griffin. When he got a single against Team Colombia in a World Baseball Classic exhibition game only to find out that it doesn’t count in his statistics, Griffin took that as extra incentive to get his first base hit that stayed in the stadium.

“There’s little things I’m able to write down or keep in the back of my head,” Griffin said. “You’re going to get beat. That’s part of this game. It can change just like that, and be able to have success right away. As players, we’re pretty close to success, sometimes even when we don’t feel it. There’s going to be a lot of great pitchers I’m going to face this year. I’m going to grow a lot from facing elite arms, guys like Paul and Bubba in spring training, and it’s going to prepare me for what’s to come.”

Ready or not?

Whether Griffin will win the Pirates’ starting shortstop job is another matter. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington stressed the responsibility the organization has to support Griffin and ensure that they don’t derail his development by rushing him to the majors before he’s ready.

Cherington offers reminders that Griffin has only 98 plate appearances above Single-A ball, that he’s a converted center fielder who has only one season at shortstop and that spring training serves as only a small slice of a player whose success is of utmost importance to the Pirates.

“Obviously, we want to try to marry that up with him helping the Pirates win as many games as possible, too,” Cherington said. “So that will continue to guide us. We’re reminded all the time about, you know, spring training versus the entire body of work. … Our job will be to put him in a position to have the longest, best career possible.”

Where Griffin is tied for the team lead with three home runs and eight RBIs in 10 Grapefruit League games, he’s batting .192 (5 for 26) and has six strikeouts without a walk. On the flip side, Griffin has a .577 slugging percentage and has eclipsed exit velocities of 100 mph seven times this spring, an indicator of barreling the ball with power.

As much as the Pirates can be accused of holding Griffin back for financial reasons, the Prospect Promotion Incentive would reward them with a draft pick following the first round if they promote a consensus top-100 prospect within two weeks of Opening Day. Whether or not he makes the roster for the March 26 opener at the New York Mets, Griffin could earn a year of service time by winning NL Rookie of the Year honors like Skenes did.

The Pirates have proclaimed this a playoffs-or-bust season and surrounded Skenes with more talent by adding four All-Stars this offseason, acquiring second baseman Brandon Lowe in a trade and signing free agents in left-handed reliever Gregory Soto, first baseman/right fielder Ryan O’Hearn and designated hitter Marcell Ozuna. They are poised to have an Opening Day payroll that tops $100 million for the first time in franchise history, so money shouldn’t be the issue if Griffin is deemed deserving of a spot in the starting lineup.

“If he keeps doing what he’s doing, he should definitely start up with us,” Reynolds said. “I don’t think he even needs to hit two home runs every game. He’s definitely somebody that’s going to help us. If that’s our ultimate goal and he’s confident, I think you should ride it. It’s tricky, too. I see both sides. He’s obviously talented enough. If he’s doing this, I think it would make sense.”

Featured Local Businesses

More local businesses

A rival talent evaluator watched Griffin play twice this week, against the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles, and found that he appeared a bit overmatched against major-league starting pitchers like Kyle Bradish and Chris Bassitt. There were no concerns about whether Griffin could play shortstop — where Jared Triolo, Nick Gonzales and Alika Williams are his primary competition — but the talent evaluator wondered whether the reward of rushing Griffin into an Opening Day starting role was worth the risk.

“It’s a tough call. I really think he would be better going to Triple-A, at least the first month or so,” he told TribLive, on the condition of anonymity. “I don’t see any fear. The kid is just a great worker. He has good makeup. It’s a fine line. This kid hasn’t failed. What happens if he starts and fails and you send him down, what does that do to his confidence? I worry about his psyche. I don’t think it will bother him, but you never know. He handles himself so well for being the No. 1 prospect in the game — everyone I talk to just raves about him — but nobody has that crystal ball.”

That hasn’t stopped Griffin, even as he concentrates on doing his best on a daily basis, from fantasizing about the idea of wearing a Pirates uniform and starting at shortstop on Opening Day.

“I think I’d be crazy if I didn’t daydream about it because it’s been something I’ve been dreaming about since I was a little kid,” said Griffin, who turns 20 on April 24. “I’m looking forward to it a lot. The goal is to make your debut, but my goal is to have a really good career. I’m training every day to be the most prepared I can for it. When that time comes, I’m going to be ready to roll.”