Inbox: Is Bucs' Griffin on fast track to Pittsburgh?

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. ¨C Greetings from Arizona everyone. While my Spring Training coverage officially starts on Saturday, I arrived early enough on Friday to enjoy the ¡­. 50 degree temps and rain?

Maybe I¡¯m still in Pittsburgh? Or maybe I¡¯m just delirious after working to get out all of the Top 30 lists and the farm system rankings to you? Or the excitement of the upcoming Spring Breakout games?

Whatever the reason, and regardless of climate, I¡¯m excited to talk to, and see more, prospects in person. I¡¯ll be bouncing around camps the next five days then hitting four Spring Breakout games here in the desert. If you see me, come and say hello; but for now, let¡¯s get to your questions.

Can you see Konnor Griffin seeing MLB action in 2026? ¨C @Fansville412

The Pirates took Griffin No. 9 overall in the 2024 Draft out of the Mississippi high school ranks, and it¡¯s hard not to get excited about his ceiling. He might have had the best set of raw tools in the entire class and the current No. 43 prospect has four tools that grade out as 60 (plus) or better on the 20-to-80 scouting scale. He could end up being a very good shortstop or center fielder down the road, and it¡¯s been a lot of fun to see him get a couple of hits, including a home run, in Grapefruit League games.

I¡¯m going to tell you to pump the brakes though, not on excitement for his future, but just how quickly it could come. Asking a high school hitter to make it to the highest level in two years is probably a little too much. There were some things with his swing that concerned some scouts and it could take a little for him to iron those out on his way up. He¡¯s yet to play an official professional inning, and I¡¯m going to assume he starts the year with Single-A Bradenton and the Pirates should let him get a good head of steam going before fast-tracking him. We have an ETA of 2028 and maybe that¡¯s conservative based on his upside, but I¡¯d be very surprised if we saw Griffin in PNC Park before 2027.

Which team's Top 30 Prospects List(s) were the easiest and hardest to rank? ¨C @StevieDAles97

We answered this one on this week¡¯s MLB Pipeline Podcast, but it seemed worth answering quickly here, given the timing. Jim and I each had choices:

Easiest: Mariners (me); Red Sox (Jim)

Hardest: Angels (me); Cubs (Jim)

If it looks like I went based on farm system rankings you¡¯re not that far off. The Mariners were a lot of fun and were deep beyond the top seven hitters they have in the Top 100. Getting to the end of a Top 30 and still liking guys, and even prospects who didn¡¯t make the list is a joy. Can it be tough to figure out who to keep/take off? Sure, but that¡¯s a problem I¡¯d take every time. Jim similarly liked how good the Red Sox system (and Top 30 list) was top-to-bottom.

The Angels were tough not only because the system is relatively thin, but because the organization promotes prospects so quickly, it¡¯s really hard to get a feel of who they are. Some graduate off lists in a hurry, like a Zach Neto or Nolan Schanuel, or soon to be Christian Moore. But they also have aggressively promoted young international prospects to higher levels, which has often muted their production, making it tough to have a sense of where to put them.

Jim named the Cubs as his hardest, which might sound strange given they have seven Top 100 guys as well. Beyond that they have a lot of young international prospects from recent signing periods, a lot of them are lottery tickets and so far away it¡¯s hard to know where to place them.

I wanted to include Sam Dykstra in this answer as well since he wasn¡¯t on the podcast. His choice for easiest was the Brewers because they slotted into tiers well and -- like with our picks above -- 20-30 were still interesting. His toughest was the Mets and he means that in a good way. There¡¯s a group 4-11 there that has been top 100 previously or could be in the future, so you could shuffle that deck.

• Subscribe to the MLB Pipeline Newsletter

I see Colby Thomas rising due to the numbers he put up. But any concern that his contact rate drops just above 60% for breaking balls and fastballs 94 mph and higher? He'll see more velocity and better breaking balls in MLB. ¨C @TonyGiner2

You¡¯ve put your finger on why Thomas was a tough one to rank. We have him at No. 3 because, as you mentioned, it¡¯s hard to look past his production. The power is legit and he¡¯s shown he can get to it even with some of his contact-related issues. Even with him struggling with soft stuff and chasing out of the zone too much, his strikeout rate actually went down a touch in 2024 at higher levels compared to 2023. I¡¯m guessing the big leagues will be an adjustment, and he¡¯s always going to be a power-over-hit guy, but I think that while there might be concern, he¡¯s going to hit enough balls over the fence to make the swing-and-miss more tolerable.