The Pittsburgh Pirates are a dumpster fire. At 42-61, the Pirates will be sellers at this year's trade deadline, and barring a miracle, will miss the postseason for a 10th consecutive season. Ben Cherington will have been the team's general manager for six years, having not led the Pirates to more than 76 wins in any of those seasons. Yet, owner Bob Nutting just got a reason to keep Cherington around even longer.
Konnor Griffin, the team's first-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, was just named MLB's new No. 1 prospect on MLB Pipeline's latest top-100 list. It'll be a little while before Griffin makes an impact at the MLB level, but given his rise ever since the team drafted him, Cherington deserves immense credit for selecting him.
It shouldn't be enough, but for Nutting, it almost certainly will be. Cherington continues to prove that while he's underwhelming at most aspects of his job, he can really draft.
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Ben Cherington's draft excellence will keep him around as Pirates GM
I won't give Cherington too much credit for selecting Paul Skenes with the No. 1 overall pick in 2023, but look at some other picks he made. Griffin, as mentioned above, was the team's first-round pick in 2024, and he's already MLB's No. 1 prospect. Bubba Chandler was selected in the third round of the 2021 MLB Draft, and he's MLB Pipeline's No. 5 overall prospect. He's yet to make his MLB debut, but is knocking on the door.
The team's No. 3 prospect is Hunter Barco, a second-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. He has emerged to the point where he's a top-100 prospect on virtually any outlet. Termarr Johnson and Thomas Harrington, two more first-round picks made by Cherington, are the organization's No. 4 and No. 5 prospects, respectively, and have intriguing upside.
On their big-league team, Nick Gonzalez, a first-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, has really begun making a name for himself. He's been one of the team's few bright spots this season and looks like their second baseman of the future.
Cherington has made some questionable trades, and hasn't made good use of the rare funds he's allowed to spend, but his drafting, especially with Griffin and Chandler looking like budding superstars, has been top-notch.
He shouldn't be allowed to stick around past this season, considering how he's failed everywhere else other than drafting, but as long as the Pirates are adding homegrown talent, what justification does Nutting, the cheapest owner in the sport, have for letting him go? There's a reason he hasn't been fired yet. Nutting's dream is to spend the least amount of money as possible while fielding a contender. Doing so is incredibly challenging, but Cherington gives him a better chance than most because of his ability to draft. Griffin in particular is proof of that.
Konnor Griffin has true superstar potential
To put it lightly, there isn't much on a baseball field Griffin cannot do. He's slashing .324/.400/.511 with 13 home runs and 53 RBI in 79 games split between Single-A and High-A. He's stolen a whopping 42 bases on the year, and has looked rock-solid in the field.
The Pirates took a bit of a risk on Griffin, whose swing was far from polished, but bet on his upside coming out of high school. Now, at just 19 years old, he looks like a superstar for the future that this Pirates organization desperately needs. All Pirates fans can hope is that Skenes is still with the organization by the time Griffin is playing at a superstar level in the big leagues.