On Sports: Pirates’ top prospect earns quick promotion; Pitt gets touted 4-star RB recruit

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ top hitting prospect is on an impressive fast track, Pitt football gets a big recruiting win, James Franklin throws his proverbial 2 cents in on the College Football Playoff selection format and a prominent Steelers player makes a life decision.

All in a Monday morning edition of the wildly popular “On Sports,” pinch-hitting this week for “First Call.”

Konnor continues rise

The lack of position-player prospects is the source of much consternation for Pirates fans — almost as much so as the MLB team’s last-place standing. The player by far regarded as the system’s best hitting prospect has earned a promotion.

Konnor Griffin, the team’s first-round pick last year, is off to High-A Greensboro, as he posted on his personal X account.

Grateful for the memories, the support, and the amazing fans who showed up every day. It’s been an honor to wear the @The_Marauders uniform. Bradenton FL has shaped me more than I could’ve imagined. Excited for the next chapter with the @GSOHoppers ! pic.twitter.com/3NyX1xDBUo

— Konnor Griffin (@KonnorGriffin22) June 9, 2025

Drafted ninth overall out of Jackson Prep High School in Mississippi, Griffin just turned 19 about six weeks ago. But he was tearing up Low-A Florida State League, leading it in batting average (.338), slugging percentage (.536), OPS (tied, .932), hits (70) and runs (49), as well as being tied for second in home runs (nine) and RBIs (36) in 207 at-bats.

During six games in June he was even better: .520/.600/.680 slash line in 30 plate appearances.

KONNOR GRIFFIN ROUNDS THE BASES FOR AN INSIDE-THE-PARK HOMER!@MLBPipeline | @YoungBucsPIT | @BaseballAmerica pic.twitter.com/34AUQIpKud

— Bradenton Marauders (@The_Marauders) June 7, 2025

Griffin is ranked as the Pirates’ No. 2 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline, trailing only Triple-A pitcher Bubba Chandler. He’s at No. 34 overall across baseball. In Greensboro, he joins other top-30 organizational prospects in catcher Omar Alfonzo (19th), pitcher Carlson Reed (20th), pitcher Khristian Curtis (24th), middle infielder Keiner Delgado (26th) and outfielder Shalin Polanco (29th).

In an illustration as to just how quickly the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Griffin is progressing, consider that those prospects in Greensboro all are between 21 and 23 years old, roughly the average age for High-A. It is rare for a 19-year-old to play at that level; typically, prospects drafted out of high school start out in Rookie-level ball and maybe make it to Low-A in their first professional seasons.

Pitt gets its man at RB

Pitt has a history of top running backs, and that’s been emphasized during the tenure of Pat Narduzzi. On Monday morning, the Panthers got a commitment from the player they believe is their next great back.

Damon Ferguson, a consensus four-star recruit from Baltimore, expressed his intention to enroll at Pitt via a post to his X account.

Through tough evaluation, consideration, input from my parents, and prayer I have decided to commit to @Pitt_FB @LindseyLamar5 @Kb1Raw @CoachDuzzPittFB @WearemilfordFB @Coach_bjones44 @Coach_Trog @ReggieWhite90 @Coach_bjones44 @Peeps_a_fool @Coach_jayjay @coachtae_7 @rjackso10 pic.twitter.com/G5675zvpPx

— Damon “Nuddle” Ferguson (@roll5damon) June 9, 2025

“Through tough evaluation, consideration, input from my parents, and prayer I have decided to commit to (Pitt football),” read Ferguson’s post.

According to 247 Sports’ composite index that takes into account multiple recruiting services, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Ferguson is the No. 7-rated overall prospect in Maryland and the No. 26 running back in the country. He had 42 scholarship offers — including Ohio State, Wisconsin and West Virginia — and had made or planned official visits to Michigan State, Virginia, Minnesota and Indiana.

Ferguson, who attends Milford Mill Academy, is the 15th “hard commit” for Pitt’s 2026 incoming class. It ranks 29th overall in the country by 247.

The Panthers this season return one of the nation’s most productive running backs in Desmond Reid.

JF on the CFP

As the powers that be haggle over the format for the College Football Playoff going forward, Penn State’s James Franklin let it be known that he’d be OK with ditching the committee that selects the (for now) 12 teams. He’d be in favor of a mathematical, analytics-based formula — the idea being to take subjectivity out of the process.

That in part was the way the original old “Bowl Championship Series” initially came up with its rankings, using computers to help rate teams in choosing what was then two national championship game participants as well as qualifiers for the other major bowls about a quarter century ago.

“It’s funny, because I think there’s all these complaints about the BCS, but then we go to (the CFP), and I think it goes back to really, my answer is, the problem is, everybody voting and everybody involved in the process — whether you want to be biased or not, we all are biased,” Franklin said during a news conference, as transcribed by CBS Sports. “I think in a lot of ways, you could make the argument a formula could be better. But we didn’t love the formula. So we went to this other system.”

For the 12th season of the CFP in 2025-26, a 13-member committee is in charge of selecting teams. The playoff grew from four to 12 teams last season, but when a new contract takes effect beginning with the 2026 season it is expected that number will expand to 14 or perhaps 16.

Led by the SEC and Big Ten, there is a movement afoot to expand the number of automatic qualifiers. For now, it’s merely the top five ranked conference champions and 11 at-large teams. Some officials have proposed as many as four bids set aside for the Big Ten and SEC.

Franklin’s point seems to be that a cold numbers-based criteria would eliminate the pressure on the committee members, who like all humans have inherent biases.

“There’s a lot of challenges,” Franklin said. “You’ve got East Coast people voting on this, and they haven’t watched enough of the West Coast games based on the time. All the different rankings that are out there. In my mind, a formula makes the most sense because it takes the bias out that we all have.

“I also think maybe there’s a way to kind of do both, and I guess you could make the argument they are doing both right now, because I think the committee uses some formulas to come up with it, which I think makes a ton of sense,” Franklin said. “I think at the end of the day, there’s not going to be a perfect system.”

Mrs. Muuuuuuuuuth

It was about nine months ago that Pat Freiermuth made a five-year commitment to the Steelers. This summer, an even bigger commitment he’s made is intended to last a lifetime.

The Steelers veteran tight end announced an engagement to fellow Massachusetts native Jillian Cataldo. Freiermuth posted a photo of the couple and their new ring to his Instagram account via a “story.”

New QB ✅
New fiancé ✅ pic.twitter.com/UuCJ3Ffl7Y

— Zachary Smith (@ZacharySmithPGH) June 7, 2025

Freiermuth, 26, is entering his fifth season with the Steelers after being drafted in the second round in 2021 out of Penn State. He had a career-high 65 catches last season and tied his career best with seven touchdowns.