Shortstop Konnor Griffin, pitcher Bubba Chandler earn top awards for Pirates prospects

Konnor Griffin developed into the consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball and Bubba Chandler into the game’s top pitching prospect, so their status in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization was indisputable.

The Pirates recognized Griffin with their Honus Wagner Player of the Year and Chandler with the Bob Friend Pitcher of the Year minor-league awards Thursday, as announced by coaching and player development director Michael Chernow.

The 23-year-old Chandler began the season at Triple-A Indianapolis and ended it in the Pirates’ starting rotation. The 6-foot-3, 218-pound right-hander led all Pirates minor leaguers with 121 strikeouts — and ranked third among all Triple-A pitchers — while going 5-6 with a 4.05 ERA in 24 starts at Indy at the time of his promotion Aug. 22.

Chandler, a 2021 third-round pick, was ranked No. 7 by MLB Pipeline and No. 15 by Baseball America. Since making his first professional appearance as a pitcher in 2022, Chandler leads all Pirates farmhands in strikeouts (457) and wins (26). In seven games for the Pirates, including four starts, Chandler went 4-1 with a 4.02 ERA and 0.93 WHIP over 31 1/3 innings and had one save, with 31 strikeouts against four walks.

A day earlier, the Pirates named Griffin the winner of their Bill Mazeroski Defender of the Year award as he committed only seven errors in 757 innings at shortstop in 89 games across three levels.

Both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America, which named Griffin its minor-league player of the year, rank him as the Pirates’ top prospect. The 19-year-old shortstop/center fielder has done his best to live up to the billing while working to improve on a daily basis.

“I try to block it out and continue to be who I am,” Griffin said Thursday on a video conference call from Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla. “I know I have a long way to go until I’m possibly a Hall of Famer one day. Until I’m a Hall of Famer, I’m going to continue to work every single day, put the blinders on and focus on what’s in front of me. Just continue to rely on my faith and my family. Just stay focused and trust God that he’ll take me on the right path.”

Griffin finished the season ranked first among all full-season Pirates minor leaguers in batting (.333), hits (161), RBIs (94), runs scored (117), OBP (.415), slugging (.527), OPS (.942) and total bases (255).

He ranked second among all full-season players in the minors in runs scored, ranking fourth in batting, fifth in hits and total bases, seventh in OPS, tied for seventh in RBIs and eighth in stolen bases. His 65 steals were the most by a Pirates minor-league player since Pedro Powell (67) in 2007, and his 117 runs scored were the most by a Pirates prospect since Robbie Grossman (127) in 2011.

Although the 6-4, 225-pounder was viewed as a five-tool prospect when he was selected with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, scouting reports expressed concerns with his elongated swing. But Griffin made an immediate impression on Pirates coaches and talent evaluators by shining at spring training.

“When we first got an opportunity to meet Konnor last year, post-draft, you saw a lot of the character traits that were exciting. The work ethic is there. Our amateur scouting group did an unbelievable job digging in and learning about him, building relationships. The information that we had really spoke to a really talented kid who was going to work really hard,” said Chernow, who noted that Griffin raised eyebrows by hitting an opposite-field home run against the Baltimore Orioles in a Grapefruit League game. “And then following it throughout the year too, learning about him as we go, you start to feel like anything is possible. He’s definitely left a great impression on us, and it’s been cool to follow his journey from the start.”

Griffin started the season at Low-A Bradenton. On May 13, he hit a leadoff home run against fellow first-rounder Trey Yesavage, who set a World Series rookie record with 12 strikeouts in Game 5 on Wednesday night. Yesavage rebounded to fan Griffin twice.

“That was a really fun matchup and I think it was my first, super big test, like that was a big arm,” Griffin said, recalling that the scouting report noted how Yesavage had five pitches and great extension. “He had a lot of really good things going for him, and I got the chance to lead off the game and attack the first pitch and got a heater and hit it out of the ball park. He’s a really good pitcher. He got me the next two times. I’m not shocked at all to see what he’s doing in the big leagues, and it’s cool to face a guy that played at every single level this year.”

After slashing .338/.396/.536 with 10 doubles, two triples, nine homers, 36 RBIs, 26 stolen bases and 49 runs scored, Griffin was promoted to High-A Greensboro on June 10. He led the South Atlantic League in batting (.325), hits (63), stolen bases (33), runs scored (48), OBP (.432), slugging (.510), OPS (.942) and total bases (99) and was riding a 24-game on-base streak when he was promoted to Altoona on Aug. 18.

Greensboro manager Blake Butler recalled how Griffin reacted to being picked off at second base in his first game for the Grasshoppers, who were a half-game back in the hunt for a first-half playoff spot.

“I was interested to see how he would handle that. Would he grow timid? Would he be afraid to make a mistake the rest of the game? The rest of the series?” Butler said. “What I found was, no, he was not going to be afraid. He was going to continue to play with his hair on fire. He was going to continue to dive all over the field and do whatever it took to help us win the game. He was able to move on from that damn near instantly. That was a microcosm of who he is.

“I think he’s somebody who’s unafraid of the truth, unafraid to make a mistake, but is always going to learn from the truth, is always going to learn from those mistakes. When you compare that to my spring training impression, with these incredible gifts from above, then also throw in and mix in some humility and recognition for the people around him, it’s a really good recipe for a player who has a chance to impact our organization in a really big way.”