{"id":511258,"date":"2026-03-08T14:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T14:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/511258\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T14:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T14:05:07","slug":"former-gm-talks-about-young-pirate-players-taking-that-next-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/511258\/","title":{"rendered":"Former GM talks about young Pirate players taking that next step"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">The same guys have been getting the attention at Pittsburgh Pirates Spring Training, like Konnor Griffin, and rightfully so. The No. 1 prospect has been putting on a clinic with his towering home runs and impressive skills. He is also building a compelling case to make the Pirates\u2019 Opening Day roster and become the starting shortstop.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Former MLB GM for the Washington Nationals and Cincinnati Reds Jim Bowden believes Griffin is the best teenage prospect ready for the show since Juan Soto and Bryce Harper.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Bowden also believes the Pirates should already pursue a long term extension for the 19 year old.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cGriffin told the media that he would be open to signing a long-term contract, something the Pirates should jump on as soon as possible because he profiles as one of the best players in the sport over the next 10-15 years,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7078266\/2026\/03\/03\/mlb-spring-training-observations-abs-system\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Bowden wrote.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Bowden wrote.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">It feels a little risky to me to already give Griffin a massive contract extension without even seeing how good he is going to be in the major league. Although if he plays well in his rookie season and he is already looking like the star everyone expects him to be, they should extend him early.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Bowden also praised O\u2019Neil Cruz for trying to address the flaws in his game before the start of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cOneil Cruz of the Pirates struggled last year against left-handed pitching, batting just .102 against them over 125 plate appearances. He hired a left-handed batting practice pitcher this offseason to improve his at-bats against southpaws,\u201d Bowden wrote. \u201cIn addition, he hit just .141 against breaking balls and has been working hard on tracking them and making better contact against them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Cruz has the potential to be an elite player in the National League. He has serious power to his bat with the potential of having a 30 plus home run season. He just has to put it all together and if he can do that we will be looking at one of the most improved players in the league. You also have to look at defensive play which needs to seriously improve for this upcoming season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Cruz is emerging as an above-average hitter and that would give Pittsburgh\u2019s lineup a much needed boost.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">What Bowden is saying in my opinion is absolutely true. If the young star for the Bucs can make that next step the Pirates can compete for a playoff spot. The pitching will do their thing this year but it\u2019s up to the offense and the young guys to back the pitching up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The same guys have been getting the attention at Pittsburgh Pirates Spring Training, like Konnor Griffin, and rightfully&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[371,7845,2319,2934,16742,87314,7842,216349,363,9882,2240,99,2331],"class_list":{"0":"post-511258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baltimore-orioles","9":"tag-bryce-harper","10":"tag-cincinnati-reds","11":"tag-getty-images","12":"tag-icon-sportswire","13":"tag-jim-bowden","14":"tag-juan-soto","15":"tag-konnor-griffin","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-oneil-cruz","18":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-washington-nationals"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}