2:15pm: Pittsburgh will indeed place Griffin on the injured list today, director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk announced to the team’s beat just now (via Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Griffin will be in a split for the next six weeks and is expected to spend anywhere from eight to ten weeks on the injured list.
11:22am: Pirates shortstop Konnor Griffin has been diagnosed with a torn tendon in the ring finger on his left hand, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. He could continue trying to play through the injury, but the Bucs are leaning toward shutting him down and letting the injury heal, per the report. That’d keep Griffin out of action more than a month.
Griffin, 20, just missed about a month due a right elbow strain. He’s shaken off a slow start to his big league career and boosted his batting line to .276/.332/.404 (including a .310/.365/.462 slash over his last 159 plate appearances).
Losing Griffin for any period of time — let alone beyond next month’s trade deadline — would be a major blow to a Pirates team that’s already missing two of its other top bats. Oneil Cruz and Spencer Horwitz are both on the injured list at the moment. Cruz, hitting .264/.350/.472, is dealing with multiple nondisplaced fractures in his own left hand that he suffered when being tagged out on a headfirst slide at home plate. Horwitz, who’s batting .280/.386/.455, is out with a hamstring strain but hopes to return shortly after next week’s All-Star break.
If the Bucs do go the IL route with Griffin, the bulk of the shortstop work in his absence would fall to light-hitting utilityman Jared Triolo. The 28-year-old has already appeared in 34 games there this season. He’s hitting just .240/.312/.316 in 191 trips to the plate but is at least a generally surehanded defender.
The Pirates raced out to a hot start this season, but they went just 11-15 in June and now sit one game over .500, at 46-45. They’re getting big production from Bryan Reynolds, rookie Esmerlyn Valdez and catcher Endy Rodriguez in particular as of late, but Griffin/Cruz/Horwitz is still a tough trio of losses for any lineup to stomach. If the Pirates expect Griffin to be sidelined well beyond a month, this injury could lead general manager Ben Cherington to explore the shortstop and/or utility infield market ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
A second lengthy absence will, in all likelihood, largely close the door on any Rookie of the Year considerations for Griffin, who entered the season as the consensus No. 1 overall prospect in the sport. He already faced an uphill climb after spending a few days in Triple-A to begin the season and then struggling in his first month or so of major league play. However, given how well Griffin was hitting dating back to mid-May, it was at least feasible that a big finish — coupled with some of the current front-runners slowing down — could put him in the race.
