Pirates shortstop Konnor Griffin has been down since early July with a sagittal band injury in his left ring finger. His original placement was retroactive to July 6th, and the team transferred him to the 60-day injured list a few days later. Tomorrow will mark eight weeks since the start of Griffin’s placement, right in line with the team’s prediction of an eight- to ten-week absence. Todd Tomczyk, the Pirates’ senior director of sports medicine, told reporters a week ago that Griffin might be activated as soon as he’s eligible on September 4th.
That will now come to pass, as Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Griffin will begin a rehab assignment at Double-A Altoona today. That will give him five games of tune-up work before rejoining the Pirates on Friday, which marks the start of a home series against the Angels. Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster is full, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move to bring Griffin off the 60-day IL. Endy Rodriguez, who is out for seven to nine months following Wednesday’s hip surgery, figures to move to the 60-day IL.
Griffin previously missed a month with a right elbow strain. Outside of the two IL stints, he has batted .276/.332/.404 in 247 plate appearances. That amounts to a wRC+ of 101, indicating he is right around league average at the plate despite only turning 20 on April 24th. Griffin is striking out at a 26.3% clip and walking 6.5% of the time. Both marks are worse than league average. However, he has shown impressive speed by swiping 20 bases, and the Pirates are happy to get even average production as their now former prospect acclimates himself to the Majors.
Pittsburgh had a 46-45 record on July 6th. They’ve gone 20-26 since Griffin went on the IL, leaving them 6.5 games back of the final NL Wild Card spot. Barring a September surge and a collapse by the Padres and three other teams, the Pirates will likely be on the outside looking in come October. Bringing Griffin back as planned won’t have much of an impact on those chances, but it will at least give the youngster some additional reps before the end of the season.
Jared Triolo and Jacob Gonzalez have filled in at shortstop the last two months. Neither one is playing well. Triolo provides adequate defense on the left side of the infield but not much with the bat, as he has a 76 wRC+ in 317 plate appearances overall. Gonzalez, whom the Pirates acquired in a minor trade on July 10th, has fared even worse. In a small sample of 96 PA with Pittsburgh, he is batting .183/.198/.344 with a miniscule 1.0% walk rate. That makes him 61% worse than the average hitter by wRC+.
Both players can be optioned to the minors if needed, though Triolo has not been optioned in over one calendar year. Between his defensive versatility and Gonzalez’s more severe struggles at the plate, Gonzalez is more likely to get sent down to accommodate Griffin. Nick Yorke can also be optioned, but his .279 on-base percentage is far more palatable for a backup infielder than Gonzalez’s .198 OBP.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images (via Reuters Connect)
