Pirates Promote Konnor Griffin
April 3: Pittsburgh has formally selected Griffin’s contract, per a club announcement. Infielder Enmanuel Valdez was designated for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot.
April 2: The Pirates are calling up shortstop Konnor Griffin, the top prospect in all of baseball, to make his major league debut in tomorrow’s home opener, Pirates insider Jason Mackey reports. The team has confirmed Griffin’s promotion but has not yet formally selected his contract to the 40-man roster. They’ll need to do so and make corresponding 26-man and 40-man transactions prior to first pitch tomorrow.
Griffin was in the mix to break camp on Pittsburgh’s Opening Day roster but was reassigned to minor league camp late in spring training. The two parties have continued talks on what would be a record-setting contract extension — expected to be both the largest ever for a player with little to no major league service time (surpassing Colt Emerson‘s recent eight-year $95MM deal with the Mariners) and the Pirates’ franchise-record contract ($100MM for Bryan Reynolds).
It’s possible the Bucs simply wanted Griffin to make his debut at home, popping ticket sales throughout the weekend and further boosting excitement for fans after an uncharacteristically aggressive offseason. It’s also feasible that the two parties have become close enough on a long-term contract that the Pirates are making the move to promote him now and will announce an extension not long after his debut. The benefits in that scenario are straightforward. Players who sign extensions before making their MLB debut are not eligible to net draft picks for their club under MLB’s prospect promotion incentives; players who sign extensions after debuting remain PPI eligible. So long as any contract is finalized after Griffin has debuted, he’d net the Pirates an extra draft pick either by winning 2026 NL Rookie of the Year honors or with a top-three finish in MVP voting in 2026-28. (A player can only generate one total PPI pick for his team.)
Griffin is still three weeks away from his 20th birthday, but the 19-year-old phenom will get his chance to prove he’s ready for the big time. A physical beast already standing 6’3″ and weighing 225 pounds, Griffin is perhaps the most touted No. 1 overall prospect in recent memory. He draws plus (60) to plus-plus (70) grades on the 20-80 scale for all of his tools across the board. Griffin is an elite runner who scouts believe can stick at shortstop while hitting for both average and power.
Selected with the No. 9 overall pick in 2024, Griffin has played just one full professional season, and the results were borderline comical. He sprinted through the minors last year, climbing from Low-A to Double-A and absolutely raking at each of his three stops. Griffin totaled 563 plate appearances overall and slashed .333/.415/.527 with 21 home runs, 23 doubles, four triples and an eye-popping 65 stolen bases in 78 tries (83.3%). He walked at an 8.9% clip and struck out at a 21.7% rate.
Those numbers are staggering on their own. By measure of wRC+, Griffin was 65% better than an average hitter across those three levels. That ignores the context that the Mississippi native was among the youngest players — if not the youngest player — at all of those stops. Griffin hit just .171 in 46 spring plate appearances with the Pirates but still popped four home runs. He’s taken 21 plate appearances in Triple-A to begin this season and gone 7-for-16 with three doubles, three steals, five walks and only four strikeouts.
With the Pirates, Griffin will immediately step in as the team’s everyday shortstop. That’ll push Jared Triolo to a bench role for which he’s probably better suited. Triolo is an adept defender at multiple infield spots but carries just a .234/.319/.343 slash in 1054 plate appearances at the major league level. He can mix in at any of the four infield spots now, though he’s not going to supplant starters Spencer Horwitz (first base), Brandon Lowe (second base) or Nick Gonzales (third base) unless there’s an injury or a prolonged stretch of poor play from Gonzales as he acclimates to the hot corner.
Griffin steps into a big league lineup that has been substantially revamped since last season. The Pirates didn’t get the biggest fish they pursued this winter (e.g. Kyle Schwarber, Josh Naylor, Kazuma Okamoto), but they still brought in several established veteran bats who’ve unequivocally bolstered the offense. Lowe and outfielder Jake Mangum came over from the Rays alongside lefty reliever Mason Montgomery in a three-team trade sending young righty Mike Burrows to Houston. Ryan O’Hearn signed a two-year, $29MM in free agency. Marcell Ozuna later came aboard for a year and $12MM. Griffin now joins newcomers like Lowe, O’Hearn and Ozuna in the heart of a vastly improved lineup that Pirates hopes will better support the team’s excellent young pitching staff.
Service time considerations seemingly weren’t a factor in Griffin’s promotion. He’s still being called up in time to get a full year of major league service even without a Rookie of the Year win. His timelines for reaching arbitration and free agency would be rendered moot if Griffin eventually signs an extension, as many expect, but as things currently stand he’d be on track for arbitration eligibility following the 2028 season and free agency following the 2031 season, when he’d be just 25 years old (and going into his age-26 season). Griffin is so young that even a record-setting extension could still position him to reach the open market well ahead of his 30th birthday.
Griffin is the first of many young Pirates hitters who could impact the team this season. Pittsburgh also picked up touted outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia in a trade with the Red Sox, and he should get a look in the majors before too long. Infielder Termarr Johnson‘s stock has dipped in recent seasons, but he’s still just 21 years old and coming off a nice 2025 showing in Double-A. Catcher/first baseman Rafael Flores Jr., another trade acquisition (from the Yankees in last summer’s David Bednar swap) had a big season between Double-A and Triple-A last year and could hit his way into a bigger audition in 2026 as well.
For now, all eyes are on Griffin — both to witness the debut of one of the best prospects in recent memory and also to see whether he signs a franchise-altering extension that’d lock him in beyond his original six seasons of club control.
Pirates Designate Enmanuel Valdez For Assignment
The Pirates have designated infielder Enmanuel Valdez for assignment, per a club announcement. His 40-man roster spot goes to the game’s No. 1 overall prospect, shortstop Konnor Griffin, whose previously announced promotion to the majors is now finalized.
Valdez has seen action in parts of three major league seasons, including 102 plate appearances with Pittsburgh last year. The 27-year-old carries a lifetime .230/.288/.392 batting line in the majors and has tallied 14 big league home runs in 474 plate appearances. He’s a left-handed hitter who’s spent the bulk of his time at second base but also has experience at both infield corners and in both outfield corners.
Originally an Astros signee out of his native Dominican Republic, Valdez went from Houston to Boston alongside Wilyer Abreu in the lopsided deal that shipped catcher Christian Vazquez to the Astros in 2022. The Red Sox traded him to the Pirates in Dec. 2024, acquiring minor league reliever Joe Vogatsky in return.
While Valdez has yet to hit much in the majors, he’s a career .250/.343/.467 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons. He’s graded out as a poor second base defender in the majors but posted above-average marks in a small sample of 190 innings at first base. Valdez is in his final minor league option year, so any team that plucks him off waivers or swings a small trade for him would be able to send him to Triple-A without restriction — at least for the remainder of the current season. (He’ll be out of options next year.)
The Pirates can trade Valdez or place him on waivers at any point in the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so within one week’s time the outcome of this morning’s DFA will be known.
Pirates, Konnor Griffin Reportedly Working On Extension
April 2nd: Olney now reports that the sides are working on a nine-year deal worth $140MM, though he cautions that the deal isn’t done as they are still working on some things.
April 1st: The Pirates and prospect Konnor Griffin are reportedly deep into extension negotiations, per Buster Olney of ESPN.
It doesn’t appear that anything is done or agreed to yet but it seems the two sides aren’t too far apart. Olney’s report frames Pittsburgh as hoping to get something done that is comparable to Corbin Carroll‘s $111MM eight-year deal with Arizona while Griffin’s camp is targeting Roman Anthony‘s $130MM eight-year pact with Boston. Given that the gap is less than $20MM, perhaps something can get done. A couple of weeks ago, Jon Heyman of The New York Post suggested the Pirates could be willing to get to the $110MM range. Last week, Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the two sides had indeed discussed an eight-year deal worth $110MM.
Griffin is not yet 20 years old and hasn’t played in the majors yet but he is the top prospect in the game right now and many consider him the best prospect seen in years. Last year, he slashed .333/.415/.527 while hitting 21 home runs and stealing 65 bases.
He topped out at Double-A yet seemed to have a chance at breaking camp with the club here in 2026. He hit four home runs in spring training but his other numbers were not great, as he slashed .171/.261/.488. Part of that was a .125 batting average on balls in play but Griffin also struck out at a 28.3% clip and only drew a walk in 4.3% of his plate appearances.
That surely didn’t do anything to dampen the club’s long-term hopes for Griffin but the Pirates decided to start the season with him at the Triple-A level. He has a .462/.588/.692 slash in four games to start the season.
Extensions for players with little or no major league experience have become far more common in recent years. Earlier this week, Colt Emerson and the Mariners set a new benchmark for pre-debut guys, signing an eight-year deal with a $92MM guarantee.
Emerson is one of the 10 to 15 top prospects in the league but, as mentioned, Griffin is the clear #1 and is perhaps the best prospect in quite some time. With that in mind, he should sail past Emerson’s guarantee and it seems like the talks are already past that point.
For extensions signed quite early in a player’s career, Carroll and Anthony are some of the most notable. Carroll and Anthony each signed within two months of their respective debuts. Julio Rodríguez has the record for a deal for a player with less than a year of service time. Towards the end of his rookie season, he and the Mariners signed a convoluted deal with a $210MM guarantee and multiple club/player options.
The largest contract in Pittsburgh’s franchise history is the $100MM deal they signed with Bryan Reynolds a few years back. It seems they are willing and hoping to break that record to lock up Griffin as part of their core. The longer they wait, the harder that will become. Young players generally gain earning power as they push further into their careers and closer to free agency, as the Rodríguez deal shows. For guys with two years of service time, Bobby Witt Jr. got a $288.8MM guarantee while Fernando Tatis Jr. got $340MM. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got $500MM when he was just a few months from free agency.
It’s been over a decade since the Pirates last made the playoffs but it’s possible better days are ahead. They have already graduated a number of exciting young players onto their major league roster in recent years, headlined by Paul Skenes. Their farm system is currently ranked by many outlets as the best in the majors. That’s in large part due to Griffin but they also have Edward Florentino, Seth Hernandez and other exciting young prospects on the way. They had a busy offseason, adding Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn, Marcell Ozuna and others as they try to take a step forward.
Griffin will be a key part of the competitive window that appears to be opening but the Bucs would naturally love to extend the relationship if they can. From Griffin’s perspective, he would have to be willing to delay his path to free agency. Going year to year could potentially mean hitting the open market after his age-25 or -26 season. Signing a deal now would lock in an upfront guarantee while perhaps still giving him a chance to become a free agent before his 30th birthday.
Without a deal officially signed, there’s a notable ticking clock with Griffin’s service time. A major league season is 187 days long but a player only needs 172 days in the majors to be credited with a full year of service time. That means Griffin can still hit that one-year mark if called up in the next week. If he does so without an extension in place, he would be eligible to earn the Pirates an extra draft pick via the Prospect Promotion Incentive, though players who sign pre-debut extensions are not PPI eligible. If Griffin is still in the minors by the end of next week, he wouldn’t be able to get a full year of service the old-fashioned way but would be credited with one year retroactively if he is eventually called up and places in the top two in National League Rookie of the Year voting.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
MLBTR Podcast: Lots Of Extensions And Big-Picture Topics
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Mariners signing an extension with Colt Emerson (1:20)
- The Brewers agreeing to an extension with Cooper Pratt (19:05)
- The Orioles signing an extension with Shane Baz (28:40)
- The Cubs signing extensions with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner (38:00)
- Free agents coming from Japan getting less than expected this offseason (53:35)
- The Tarik Skubal arbitration decision potentially being a paradigm shift (59:15)
- The economics of the game with the collective bargaining agreement expiring in less than a year (1:05:50)
- Did the short-term deals for Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette signal a new trend? (1:22:45)
- Dealing with high-spending clubs with draft pick penalties instead of financial penalties (1:31:00)
- Can the Brewers continue to win after trading away some valuable guys? (1:38:10)
- The exciting crop of 2026 rookies (1:41:15)
- Can the Pirates push into contention in a crowded NL Central? (1:43:40)
- The excitement around the introduction of the ABS system (1:44:50)
Check out our past episodes!
- The PCA and Sanchez Extensions, And Prospect Promotions And Reassignments – listen here
- Banged-Up Reds And Braves, Kevin McGonigle, And Spring Breakouts – listen here
- Jesús Luzardo’s Extension, Atlanta’s Depth, And Zack Littell – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Poll: Who Will Win The NL Central?
With the 2026 season set to begin today, the offseason is now complete for MLB’s 30 teams. Until the playoffs begin, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. In the run-up to the start of the season, we will be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. The Blue Jays came out on top in the AL East, and the Tigers did the same in our poll on the AL Central, and the Mariners were predicted to win the AL West. Yesterday, MLBTR readers overwhelmingly voted (66%) to predict the Dodgers would win the NL West. Today, we’ll be moving on to the NL Central. All teams are listed in order of their 2025 regular season record:
Milwaukee Brewers (97-65)
The Brewers were the best team in baseball by regular season record last year. While their close NLDS matchup against their division rivals from Chicago and a demoralizing sweep at the hands of the Dodgers in the NLCS did little to answer questions about the club’s viability in October, they’ve won three straight division titles and haven’t finished a 162-game season with fewer than 86 wins since 2016. At some point, it becomes hard not to reward that consistency, and even after a winter where the club traded away Freddy Peralta, Isaac Collins, and Caleb Durbin without making any obviously impactful additions to the roster, it’s easy to imagine Milwaukee’s run of success continuing in 2026. Jackson Chourio is certainly capable of a breakout, and Jacob Misiorowski could make Brewers fans forget Peralta in a hurry if the flamethrowing righty takes a step forward.
Chicago Cubs (92-70)
The Cubs failed to win the division last season, lost to their division rivals in the ALDS, and watched superstar outfielder Kyle Tucker walk in free agency over the offseason. Despite all of that, however, Chicago is viewed by some around the game as the heavy favorite in the NL Central. That’s thanks to a busy offseason where they brought Alex Bregman into the organization and landed right-hander Edward Cabrera in trade. Those external additions, larger contributions from up-and-coming youngsters Moises Ballesteros and Cade Horton, and the healthy return of Justin Steele to the top of the club’s rotation should all help the Cubs make up for the loss of Tucker. The true x-factor for Chicago’s hopes in the division this year, however, will surely be the recently-extended Pete Crow-Armstrong. If he looks anything like he did in the first half of 2025, he should be in the MVP conversation and help lead the Cubs to new heights. If he’s more like his second half, however, the Cubs could find themselves on the outside looking in for what should be a competitive NL Central race this year.
Cincinnati Reds (83-79)
The Reds shocked many fans and analysts when they managed to squeak into the postseason last year, and this offseason saw them bring old friend Eugenio Suarez back into the fold to add some thump to a lineup that was lackluster for most of 2026. It was a strong addition to be sure, but the loss of both Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo for the start of the 2026 season will put a lot of pressure on young arms like Rhett Lowder, Chase Burns, and Brandon Williamson to carry the team in the early parts of the season. If the team’s youngsters can do that until Greene returns to his spot at the top of the rotation, perhaps Suarez and Elly De La Cruz can create enough offense to get the Reds to the postseason in more convincing fashion this year.
St. Louis Cardinals (78-84)
The Cardinals finally executed their long-teased rebuild this offseason, dealing away Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Brendan Donovan, and Nolan Arenado in the span of three months. The resulting team has plenty of reasons for hope in the future, including star prospect JJ Wetherholt, but for the time being, it’s hard to see this club as anything other than the obvious weak link in the NL Central. A banner rookie season from Wetherholt would need to be combined with big steps forward for players like Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, and Matthew Liberatore alongside a rebound for Dustin May if there’s going to be any hope of playoff baseball in St. Louis this year. That’s a tall order to say the least, but players like Masyn Winn and Ivan Herrera at least look like solid building blocks for the future.
Pittsburgh Pirates (71-91)
The Pirates may have finished fifth in the NL Central last year, but it would be a shock to see them do so again in 2026. They’re a popular darkhorse pick to even take the division this year, and it’s not hard to see why. Reigning NL Cy Young award winner Paul Skenes might be the best pitcher on the planet, and he’s backed up by a strong rotation that also includes Bubba Chandler and Mitch Keller headed into 2026. Those pitchers will be supported by a completely rebuilt offense this year, as Brandon Lowe, Marcell Ozuna, Ryan O’Hearn, and Jake Mangum are all in place to help boost a lineup that relied on Spencer Horwitz, Oneil Cruz, and Bryan Reynolds as its middle of the order bats last year. A bullpen that lost David Bednar at last year’s trade deadline but added Gregory Soto over the winter comes with some questions, and the team’s defense seems likely to leave something to be desired, but this is easily the most competitive the Pirates have been in a decade.
How do MLBTR readers think the NL Central will shake out this year? Will Milwaukee’s dominance continue despite dealing away Peralta and others? Will the Cubs take that extra step even after losing Kyle Tucker? Have the Pirates or Reds done enough to bridge the gap and push themselves into the conversation? Or will the Cardinals’ expected rebuilding phase end before it even begins? Have your say in the poll below:
Who will win the NL Central in 2026?
Joe La Sorsa To Stay With Pirates
March 25th: La Sorsa went unclaimed and will stay with the Pirates as non-roster depth, per Alexander.
March 22nd: La Sorsa has been told he won’t be breaking camp with the Pirates, so he’ll be triggering his clause tomorrow, Ari Alexander reports.
March 17th: Left-hander Joe La Sorsa has an upward mobility clause at the end of spring training in his minor league deal with the Pirates, reports Ari Alexander of 7 News Boston. If he triggers that clause, he’ll be offered up to the other 29 clubs. If any of them are willing to give him a roster spot, then the Pirates have to either give him a roster spot themselves or trade him to another club that will. If no club offers him a roster spot, then he can be sent to the minors as non-roster depth.
La Sorsa, 28 in April, agreed to a minor league deal with the Bucs right as free agency was beginning in early November. He hasn’t spent much time in camp because he joined the Italian team for the World Baseball Classic. The Azzurri went on a Cinderella run that just ended last night when they were eliminated by Venezuela in the semifinals. The lefty made four appearance for Italy, logging 2 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs via two hits and one hit-by-pitch while striking out four.
His major league track record consists of 57 innings thrown for the Rays, Nationals and Reds over the past three years. In that time, he has a 5.21 ERA, 17.5% strikeout rate, 6.3% walk rate and 39.2% ground ball rate. In 2025, he only made five appearances in the majors. He spent most of the year in Triple-A, posting a 2.59 ERA in 48 2/3 innings. His 21.2% strikeout rate and 42.1% ground ball rate at that level were close to average but he walked 13% of batters faced.
With the upward mobility clause, La Sorsa will get a major league roster spot as long as one of the 30 clubs is willing to give him one, whether that’s the Pirates or not. The Bucs should have Gregory Soto and Mason Montgomery as their two primary lefties in the bullpen. Evan Sisk is also on the roster but he has already been optioned, so he should start the season in Triple-A. If La Sorsa does get a roster spot somewhere, he still has a minor league option remaining.
Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea, Imagn Images
MLBTR Podcast: The PCA and Sanchez Extensions, And Prospect Promotions And Reassignments
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The extension between the Cubs and Pete Crow-Armstrong (recorded prior to the numbers being reported) (2:20)
- The extension between the Phillies and Cristopher Sánchez (7:00)
- The Braves losing Spencer Strider to the injured list (14:00)
- Is there a trend of starting pitcher prospects being used in major league bullpens? (18:15)
- The Nationals optioning Dylan Crews and Harry Ford, with Josiah Gray landing on the 60-day IL (23:35)
- Carson Benge making the Mets‘ Opening Day roster (30:30)
- JJ Wetherholt making the Cardinals‘ Opening Day roster (35:40)
- The Pirates not breaking camp with Konnor Griffin (39:15)
- The Guardians not breaking camp with Travis Bazzana (44:40)
- The Blue Jays starting the season with José Berríos and Trey Yesavage on the injured list (49:20)
- The Marlins optioning Braxton Garrett (55:55)
Check out our past episodes!
- Banged-Up Reds And Braves, Kevin McGonigle, And Spring Breakouts – listen here
- Jesús Luzardo’s Extension, Atlanta’s Depth, And Zack Littell – listen here
- Max Scherzer, The Red Sox’ Lineup, Spring Extension Candidates, And More! – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Kyle Ross, Imagn Images
Pirates Finalize Pitching Staff
The Pirates finalized their Opening Day pitching decisions, with Jason Mackey of MLB.com covering the notable details. Carmen Mlodzinski will get a rotation spot while José Urquidy and Hunter Barco will start the season in the bullpen and Mike Clevinger will head to Triple-A. Alex Stumpf reports that Clevinger had an upward mobility clause in his minor league deal but it appears that didn’t lead to a roster spot with any of the 30 clubs in the league.
The Bucs went into the winter with loads of pitching and used that to bolster their position player group. They included Mike Burrows in the three-team trade that netted them Brandon Lowe and Jake Mangum, as well as reliever Mason Montgomery. They flipped Johan Oviedo to the Red Sox in a five-player trade, with the headliner for the Bucs being outfielder Jhostynxon García. They still have a strong front four consisting of Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft. By the end of camp, Mlodzinski, Urquidy, Barco and Clevinger appeared to be battling for the final spot.
Mlodzinski enters the season with a 3.25 earned run average in 185 2/3 innings as a swingman. He has struck out 21.7% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 8.2% clip, both fairly average marks. His 47.1% ground ball rate is a few ticks north of par.
There seems to be some belief he could find a new gear. Mlodzinski tells Mackey that he’s feeling much better now compared to a year ago thanks to the development of his splitter and curveball. He threw both of those pitches at the big league level for the first time last year. It’s hoped that the more diverse arsenal can help him find more success as he turns a lineup over. Mlodzinski has allowed a line of .214/.281/.294 when facing a lineup for the first time as a starter but a massive .381/.422/.607 line the second time through.
For what it’s worth, he had a great camp. Spring performances always need to be taken with a grain of salt but he posted a 2.92 ERA with a 25% strikeout rate, 3.6% walk rate and 56.8% ground ball rate. The Bucs will give him a chance to carry that forward into the regular season.
Jared Jones will be returning from his surgery at some point in the coming months and will need a rotation spot but other injuries will likely pop up between now and then. Mlodzinski does still have an option and could be sent to the minors but that’s also true of Ashcraft, Chandler and Jones. Time will tell how it all shakes out.
For now, there are domino effects for the other guys who were in the mix. Urquidy has had a decent career but missed most of 2024 and 2025 recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Bucs gave him a big league deal but he didn’t have a good camp, allowing 11 earned runs in 10 2/3 innings. He’ll seemingly start the season as a long reliever, presumably for mop-up duty.
As for Barco, it’s a bit of a surprise to see him on the Opening Day roster. He has options and is still expected to be a valuable starter in the long run, so there was an argument for having him stretched out in Triple-A.
Mackey suggests his path forward could mirror that of Ashcraft, who tossed 69 2/3 innings in the majors last year and 48 1/3 in the minors. The major league work was split between eight starts and 18 bullpen appearances, most of which were for more than an inning. Ashcraft went into 2025 having never thrown more than 73 innings in a season. He got to 118 last year, between his minor league starts and that big league hybrid role. That should put him in place to jump to something resembling a full starter’s workload in 2026.
Barco got to 102 1/3 innings last year between the majors and minors, a personal high for him. Ideally, he will push that up this year in order to keep building towards a full starter’s workload. For now, that will be in the big league bullpen. He has options and could be sent down for regular Triple-A work at some point or perhaps injuries will open a rotation role in the majors.
As for Clevinger, it’s been a few years since he was an effective starter in the big leagues, which is why he had to settle for a minor league deal this offseason. His velocity was up this spring, an encouraging sign, but the results weren’t enough to grab a roster spot. He struck out 25% of batters faced in spring games but also gave out walks at a 16.7% clip and posted a 5.02 ERA.
He’ll presumably be in the Triple-A rotation, staying ready for a potential call-up at some point. The fact that he’s not on the 40-man roster could work against him. Thomas Harrington and Wilber Dotel have 40-man spots and will also be making Triple-A starts while on optional assignment.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Pirates Assign Konnor Griffin To Minor League Camp
The Pirates announced that star prospect Konnor Griffin has been reassigned to the team’s minor league spring camp. Barring something surprising like a last-minute contract extension, the transaction seems to confirm that Griffin won’t be part of Pittsburgh’s Opening Day roster.
This was probably always the likeliest scenario, as Griffin is still just over a month away from his 20th birthday and has yet to even make his Triple-A debut. Though Griffin crushed Double-A pitching to the tune of a .337/.418/.542 slash line in 2025, those big numbers came in the relatively small sample size of 98 plate appearances over 21 games. In Spring Training action, Griffin showed some big power but not much else, hitting .184/.279/.526 over 43 PA and striking out 11 times.
If Griffin had dominated the Grapefruit League, the Pirates might’ve felt more compelled to immediately see what the shortstop could do at the Major League level. An Opening Day assignment would’ve also put the Pirates in line for a potential future bonus draft pick under the Prospect Promotion Incentive plan, though the temptation of an extra pick isn’t as important to the Bucs as Griffin’s continued development. For context, the Pirates also didn’t bring Paul Skenes up for his MLB debut until May of the 2024 season, even though Skenes’ immediate dominance indicated that he might well have been ready for the Show on Opening Day.
A pre-career extension might’ve also done the trick in getting Griffin to the Opening Day lineup, and last month, both Griffin and the Pirates had some interest in such a deal. Such an extension surely would’ve topped Jackson Chourio‘s eight-year, $82MM pact with the Brewers as the largest deal ever given to a player before his MLB debut, and the New York Post’s’ Jon Heyman writes “and some believe” the Pirates (never known for their big spending) are comfortable going to such record lengths in a nine-figure contract.
Griffin looks like the kind of special talent that merits this kind of investment. The ninth overall pick of the 2024 draft hit a combined .333/.415/.527 over 563 PA split between the A-ball, high-A, and Double-A levels in 2025, with 21 home runs and 65 steals (in 78 attempts). All of the major scouting outlets have Griffin atop their preseason top-100 prospect rankings, with scouting reports raving about his five-tool skills. Primarily a shortstop, Griffin has dabbled a bit in center field since his athleticism translates so well to either position, and whatever the spot, he looks like a future fixture in Pittsburgh’s lineup.
As dire as the last seven seasons have been for Pirates fans, Griffin’s impending arrival, Skenes’ presence, a bunch of other quality arms in the pipeline, and the fact that the Bucs spent some money on bats this winter are all signs that things could be turning around in the Steel City. Exciting as it would’ve been to have seen Griffin’s debut this week, the Pirates are okay in playing the slightly longer game, even if Griffin might still be in the Show before the All-Star break.
Which Top Prospects Could Be On 2026 Opening Day Rosters?
In the not-too-distant past, it was relatively rare for organizations to break camp with their very best prospects on the roster. It still happened at times, but MLB's service time structure was set up such that keeping a top prospect in the minors for even two weeks to begin the season effectively ensured that he'd be controllable for seven years rather than the standard six. There were obvious exceptions to this thinking -- Atlanta fans surely remember Jason Heyward breaking camp as a 20-year-old and belting a three-run homer on Opening Day -- but there were far more cases of keeping a player in the minors to buy the extra year. Kris Bryant, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and others were all called to the majors just when they'd spent enough time in the minors to give their clubs an extra year of control. There was nothing inherently nefarious about the gambit; teams were operating within the collectively bargained rules and making business decisions.
The 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement sought to implement some real incentives for teams to bring their best players north to begin the season, however, and by and large they've been effective. With the Prospect Promotion Incentives (PPI), any prospect who appears on two recognized top-100 lists and is called up early enough to earn a full service year can net his team a bonus draft pick, either in that season's Rookie of the Year voting or in MVP/Cy Young voting over the next three seasons.
There's also a disincentive to holding a player down. For those same qualified top prospects, a top-two finish in either league's Rookie of the Year voting will net a full year of major league service time, regardless of when they were called up. Said prospects still have around 90% of a season in such instances, which is more than enough time to turn in a ROY-worthy performance.
Teams now know that holding a player down for 15 days or so might lead to him getting a full year of service anyhow and comes with the disadvantage of rendering that player ineligible for future PPI picks. As such, it's become increasingly common for touted prospects to break camp on their teams' rosters.
With that in mind, and with fewer than two weeks to go until Opening Day, it seems worth running through a slate of top prospects who could factor into their teams' Opening Day plans.
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