The Pittsburgh Pirates handed top prospect Konnor Griffin some important news shortly before he was set to make his hotly anticipated MLB debut. The Pirates face the visiting Baltimore Orioles in Friday’s game, which will be Pittsburgh’s home opener in a season that the Pirates enter with their highest expectations in at least a decade.
Both teams come into the game at 3-3, but the won-loss records took a back seat to Griffin’s debut. At age 19, the top-rated prospect in baseball, per MLB Pipeline, becomes the youngest position player to play his first MLB game since Juan Soto in 2018.
But even after Griffin belted four home runs in the Piratesâ major league spring training, manager Don Kelly clearly wants to take any additional pressure off the Pirates’ 2024 first-round draft pick.
Before the game, when the Pirates posted their starting lineup early Friday afternoon, Kelly gave Griffin the news that he would be batting in the lower part of the order, in the No. 7 slot. In the right-handed Griffin’s first major league at-bat, he will likely face Orioles righty Kyle Bradish, who comes in having allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Minnesota Twins in his first start.
Pirates Place Griffin in Lower Third of Order
Here is the Piratesâ official batting order for Fridayâs game, featuring several hot starts at the top of the lineup.
1. Oneil Cruz â L, CF â AVG .304 / OBP .333 / OPS 1.029
2. Brandon Lowe â L, 2B â AVG .333 / OBP .455 / OPS 1.344
3. Bryan Reynolds â S, LF â AVG .222 / OBP .250 / OPS .694
4. Marcell Ozuna â R, DH â AVG .050 / OBP .174 / OPS .224
5. Ryan O’Hearn â L, RF â AVG .421 / OBP .522 / OPS 1.259
6. Spencer Horwitz â L, 1B â AVG .133 / OBP .188 / OPS .321
7. Konnor Griffin â R, SS â AVG .000 / OBP .000 / OPS .000
8. Jared Triolo â R, 3B â AVG .150 / OBP .261 / OPS .461
9. Henry Davis â R, C â AVG .143 / OBP .294 / OPS .508
Griffin will make his major league debut after playing only 127 minor league games, including five this season for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. A typical big league player who was drafted directly out of high school, as Griffin was, plays an average of 909 minor league games, according to a 2019 study, before getting his first MLB game.
Why Griffin’s Debut is Such a Big Deal
Griffin comes to the major leagues with, arguably, even more hype and high expectations than Boston Red Sox 2025 rookie Roman Anthony, who preceded Griffin as baseball’s No. 1 prospect. Why is Griffin different?
“Nowadays, we hear that sentiment all the time. Hyperbole makes the world go âround. Everything is the biggest, the best, the most. The only thing hotter than the next hot thing is the next, next hot thing,” wrote Jake Mintz of Yahoo! Sports on Friday. “But Konnor Griffin? This kid is actually different.”
The Pirates certainly think so. The notoriously cost-conscious Pittsburgh club, which enters the season with the seventh-lowest payroll in the game at $119,067,319 per Spotrac, on Thursday were working on finalizing a nine-year, $140 million contract extension for Griffin before he had played a single major league out.
Griffin will play his rookie season for a salary of $742,438, but assuming his extension is finalized, the Jackson, Mississippi, native will earn an average of $15.5 million every year through 2035. Griffin, however, would still be in his prime at age 29 that year.
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