Where Pirates’ Konnor Griffin Stands in Injury Rehab

Several factors contributed to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ second-half collapse. One of those is undeniably the injuries the team has been forced to overcome.

Konnor Griffin has been included in that group, as the 20-year-old star rookie landed on the injured list in the middle of July after injuring his thumb diving for a ball running out to left field.

There is some good news for both Griffin and Pittsburgh, and that’s that a return to major league action is very much on the horizon.

If it were up to Griffin, he’d be back on the first day he’s eligible to come off the injured list, and Pirates general manager Ben Cherington noted that “He’s tracking that way.”

"He’s swinging, he’s responded really well to swinging. Been no hiccups since he kind of got the brace off and got cleared to begin that progression. So we just got to build it up that now and get him ready for games,” Cherington continued during an interview on 93.7 The Fan.

Even though Griffin is participating in baseball activities and progressing well, there's still one box he likely must check off before returning to the big-league roster, and that’s playing in a rehab assignment.

It wouldn’t be surprising for the Pirates to have the 20-year-old go out and play a few games at Double-A or Triple-A to help get his timing back, but there still isn’t an exact idea of when that could come.

In fact, even though Cherington believes Griffin is trending toward a return in early September, there still isn’t an exact timeline or target date for his potential return.

"We still anticipate that happening, barring something unforeseen, by sometime later this month, early September,” he continued. We don’t have an exact timeline, date yet, but we’re still confident and we believe there’s confidence we’re gonna see him in major league games in the first part of September sometime.”

Griffin has largely had an up-and-down rookie season, with some standout moments, but also growing pains and learning curves. Still, it’s hard to deny that he’s one of the team’s best offensive options to have in the lineup.

Getting Griffin back for the home stretch of the regular season will be vital after the Pirates hope to go on a last-second run to get back to the playoffs.