Pirates Prospect Update: Konnor Griffin, Hunter Barco, Bubba Chandler

Less than a month into his first season of professional baseball, Konnor Griffin simply cannot stop hitting.

Selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first round (No. 9 overall) of the 2024 MLB Draft, Griffin has been demonstrating his power at the plate in a big way at Single-A Bradenton, most recently catching fire over the weekend with three doubles and two home runs against Lakeland (Detroit Tigers).

Griffin, who just turned 19 last week, racked up seven hits over three days against Lakeland. After hitting a two-run blast on Friday, he hit a homer and a pair of singles on Saturday and followed it up with three doubles on Sunday.

The pair of homers doubled Griffin's season total to four, and he's slashing an impressive .270/.345/.514 through 18 games for Bradenton this season. Defensively, he has played primarily at shortstop while also getting some looks at center field.

"More evaluators see center as a better long-term home," MLB Pipeline says of Griffin. "But he’s the kind of athlete teams let tell them where they fit best."

Pirates Prospect Update: Hunter Barco, Bubba Chandler shine on the mound

It's almost May, and Pirates pitching prospect Hunter Barco still has yet to give up a run in 2025.

The 24-year-old southpaw has done nothing but dumbfound hitters over the past month at Double-A Altoona, recently extending his season-opening scoreless streak to 20 2/3 innings with three shutout innings of one-hit ball Sunday against Chesapeake (Baltimore Orioles). Barco needed just 47 pitches to retire nine batters, and he struck out all but one of them.

Pittsburgh's No. 7 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, Barco has surrendered just seven hits and two walks while racking up 22 strikeouts through his first five starts of the season. His next start is scheduled for this weekend against Akron (Cleveland Guardians), and another strong outing could accelerate his path to Triple-A Indianapolis.

Speaking of Triple-A, Bubba Chandler dominated once again in his most recent outing at Indianapolis. The Pirates' top pitching prospect allowed just one hit while striking out four and walking none over five innings against St. Paul (Minnesota Twins).

Through his first five starts of the season, Chandler has pitched to a 1.33 ERA with 27 strikeouts and six walks in 20 1/3 innings. He regularly hits triple digits on the radar gun, doing so seven times in the fifth inning alone against St. Paul, and he continues to make a strong case for a promotion to the big leagues.

After all, it was almost exactly a year ago that National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes made his MLB debut for Pittsburgh, and the Pirates may very well be following a similar pattern with Chandler.

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