The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that Konnor Griffin will attend the team’s MLB spring training as a non-roster invite.
Griffin is the Pirates’ top prospect and the top prospect in all of baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. The 19-year-old shortstop has been rising up the minor leagues, and now the team is seeing what he can do in Major League camp.
The star prospect finished the year in Double-A, and ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan said earlier this offseason that the Pirates are strongly considering Griffin as the team’s starting shortstop in 2026.
“The most exciting: The Pirates are strongly considering giving 19-year-old Konnor Griffin, the consensus minor league player of the year in 2025, the opportunity to win their big league shortstop job, sources told ESPN,” Passan wrote on Nov. 18.
Griffin would be the first teenage position player to debut in the big leagues since Juan Soto in 2018. However, by inviting him to camp, Pittsburgh is at least giving him a chance to prove he belongs in the Majors.
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The Pirates selected Griffin ninth overall in the 2024 MLB Draft out of high school, and Pittsburgh was able to sign him to a slight over-slot deal at $6.53 million to join the Pirates rather than head to LSU.
Pittsburgh will open its 2026 MLB season on March 26 on the road against the New York Mets.
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