lost to the San Diego Padres 8-2<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cThis week has been amazing, debut week, and then sitting here signing a contract, it\u2019s been amazing,\u201d Griffin said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the best weeks of my life. … But it\u2019ll be even better if we can get a win today.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Wednesday\u2019s game, Griffin entered as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the seventh and hit a sacrifice fly to score Nick Yorke for the Pirates\u2019 first run.<\/p>\n
Pirates owner Bob Nutting said the nine-year contract reflects the team\u2019s commitment in winning this season and in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an important step for 2026 as we look at it right now, but obviously this is a long-term commitment,\u201d Nutting said. \u201cIt\u2019s a long-term statement of where we\u2019re headed as an organization, where we are headed with this team. … This obviously is an unusual and dramatic step for the Pittsburgh Pirates. So I\u2019m excited, I hope our fans are excited, I hope the city is excited, I know the organization is excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked why it was important to sign for nine years, Griffin said he sees the Pirates as a winning organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pumped to be a Pirate and be a part of this wonderful clubhouse,\u201d Griffin said, looking at his teammates at the back of the room. \u201cA lot of great talent back there and coaches and staff. Thank you all for being here to support me. Y\u2019all made this transition to the big leagues super easy. And I\u2019m just pumped to go compete. The goal is to win. The goal is to win a World Series. And I think we\u2019ve got a great clubhouse to go do that. I\u2019m pump to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The agreement comes less than 24 hours after general manager Ben Cherington said the \u201cingredients\u201d were in place for a long-term pact.<\/p>\n
The Pirates selected Griffin with the ninth overall pick in the 2024 amateur draft. He sprinted through the team\u2019s farm system, hitting .333 with 21 home runs, 94 RBIs and 65 stolen bases. He was one of the final cuts during spring training last month, and his stay at Triple-A Indianapolis was brief.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh called Griffin to the majors after just a week, and he has played well through his first handful of games. Griffin laced an RBI-double in his first big-league at bat against Baltimore last Friday, and added a pair of hits, including a two-run single, in a 7-1 win over San Diego on Tuesday night that helped the Pirates to their sixth win in seven games.<\/p>\n
Griffin, who has said repeatedly he wants to stay in Pittsburgh for as long as possible, has impressed teammates with his maturity and his unique skillset.<\/p>\n
Reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes called Griffin \u201ca big leaguer through and through,\u201d though Griffin is doing his best to ignore the attention that has surrounded his arrival for a team that is trying to return to relevance and end a playoff drought that\u2019s now over a decade old.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust sticking to being myself, not trying to do too much,\u201d Griffin said Tuesday night. \u201cJust let the game tell me the situation. Compete one pitch at a time and let it all happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH (AP) \u2014 Konnor Griffin is with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the long haul. The 19-year-old shortstop agreed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[1558,65825,161363,20993,9599,363,2008,9598,94789,5631,10000,3234,2240,7155,99,24324,82747],"class_list":{"0":"post-572677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-ben-cherington","10":"tag-bob-nutting","11":"tag-minor-league-baseball","12":"tag-mississippi","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-mlb-baseball","15":"tag-ms-state-wire","16":"tag-nick-yorke","17":"tag-pa-state-wire","18":"tag-paul-skenes","19":"tag-pennsylvania","20":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","21":"tag-san-diego","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-sports-transactions","24":"tag-uc-san-diego-tritons"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572677","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=572677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}