The Pittsburgh Pirates have had a great start to the 2026 campaign, something I expected coming into the year. I know that people like to bash on the Pirates for whatever reason, but this is a completely different team than we've seen in recent years.
Pittsburgh is as legit as it gets on the mound, and if this offense continues to do what it can, there's reason to believe that we can see a very special year out of this group.
Now, to say there haven't been some tough moments or certain guys not playing well would be unfair, including top prospect Konnor Griffin. Only 19 years old, there were expected to be some learning curves for Griffin when he came up.
Hitting .152 with 12 strikeouts in 33 at-bats, Griffin is learning that Major League Baseball is very difficult. No matter how much talent a young man has, there's always a growing stage in this league.
I highly doubt that the Pirates would ever consider sending him down, but Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic recently had some thoughts on that possibly happening.
"If they believe he's getting overwhelmed ... yes, at that point, they can and will send him down," Rosenthal said. "But they're not there yet. He's terrific defensively, as we've seen, and he should be given the chance to figure it out. If he doesn't, if this continues, OK, you take a deep breath, you let him go back to the minors, get his feet back on the ground, and then go from there."
I understand what Rosenthal was trying to say here, as we can't count anything out, but I just don't see how there would be any good in sending Griffin down. When we look at the way some of the players and higher-ups in the organization have spoken about him, it seems like they all want him around for a very long time.
"He's a difference-maker. It was very apparent today," Paul Skenes said.
"He just went right down and hit his stride and was able to reset in a couple of days," Pirates manager Don Kelly said. "Which again, for anybody, is really impressive, especially for a 19-year-old kid whose hopes and dreams were to make the big leagues."
Griffin is the future of this organization, and due to some of the moves the Pirates made during the offseason, it allows them to keep him up and struggle. Griffin doesn't need to be sent back down to work on things, as he's not necessarily making this team lose games at all. He just needs to get the bat going offensively, and with the guys they have around him, he should be more than fine eventually.
“The future that has been talked about since general manager Ben Cherington was hired in late 2019 is finally arriving. Perhaps it's telling of how far the club has come that Griffin is joining a roster that has undergone a significant upgrade in recent months, with the additions of All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe, All-Star first baseman/outfielder Ryan O'Hearn and veteran designated hitter Marcell Ozuna,” ESPN wrote.