Pirates farm system may survive Konnor Griffin graduation better than expected

The Pittsburgh Pirates' farm system's lofty third-overall ranking by MLB Pipeline makes sense. When you have the No. 1 overall prospect in the sport in Konnor Griffin, there's a certain level of helium that pulls up the rest of the pack.

But with 130th Major League at-bat Wednesday at PNC Park, Griffin officially graduated from prospect status. Does that mean a crash down the rankings is inevitable?

Not if Edward Florentino has anything to say about it.

The 19-year-old outfielder was promoted to High-A Greensboro on May 1, after posting a .321/.500/.750 line with three homers in just nine games down in Bradenton. After going 0-for-3 with a walk in his first High-A game, Florentino has ripped off a seven-game (and counting) hitting streak, turning up the heat even higher over his last three contests with a homer coming in each matchup.

In total, he's tacked on four homers to his season total and is slashing .278/.289/.611. Now that he's completely out of Griffin's shadow, folks are starting to realize that the Dominican teenager is pretty darn good in his own right.

Edward Florentino and others will prevent the Pirates' system from a precipitous decline amid Konnor Griffin's graduation

Florentino ranks as the No. 37 overall prospect on MLB Pipeline's updated list, but there are some who don't disagree with that assessment. Instead, there are some experts who believe he's even better. Baseball America (subscription required) ranked the talented youngster No. 18 on their May update of the top 100. Not that it matters a ton, but that assessment came out before the youngster's latest tear.

BA is also rightfully very high on Seth Hernandez, ranking Pittsburgh's 2025 first-round pick No. 9 overall. MLB.com isn't that far behind, though; in their eyes, he's the 19th-best prospect in baseball. MLB Pipeline's ranking came before Hernandez ripped off six starts with a 0.96 ERA and a 48.1% K-rate at Bradenton.

Griffin's potential clearly mattered in the rankings, but it was the depth of the system that also helped the organization rise to the top. Aside from the tippy top players, there are other, under-the-radar prospects who may fuel a surge.

Esmerlyn Valdez raised a lot of eyebrows last autumn in the Arizona Fall League. The club made an aggressive move to place him in Indianapolis to start the season after spending just 51 games at Double-A last season, and while it's been a mixed bag overall, his career-high 18.2% walk rate and career-best 21.8% strikeout rate over 39 games bode well for his maturity and eventual breakout.

Wilber Dotel's brief big league stint proved that he's an intriguing arm. Wyatt Sanford is showing off impressive power and speed in Greensboro. The Pirates still have Jhostynxon Garcia waiting in the wings. The list goes on and on with depth at all levels.

So, yes, the system will slide once the evaluators take stock of everything after Griffin exhausts his prospect eligibility, but that doesn't mean that it will be a free fall. The depth is solid, and there's still plenty of high-end talent left in the system, with Florentino and Hernandez likely becoming the envy of the league on each side of the ball sooner rather than later.

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