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The Pittsburgh Pirates have a plan for Konnor Griffin if he struggles in the Major Leagues. Despite his recent challenges, the team intends to keep him on the roster.
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Pirates reveal Konnor Griffin demotion plan if star prospect struggles originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Pittsburgh Pirates made one of the most exciting decisions of the season when they called up top prospect Konnor Griffin to the Major Leagues for their first home games of the season.
He's since played at shortstop often for the Pirates, and while his debut was a solid 1-for-3 game with an RBI double and one walk, Griffin has struggled overall.
Amid such struggles, Ken Rosenthal for The Athletic shared a comment from Pirates manager Don Kelly about the team's plan with Griffin if the star prospect struggles. Simply put, fans should expect Griffin to go nowhere.
"I don't even know at what point that would enter the discussion," Kelly said. "That's not even in the realm of possibility right now. He's going to be up there."
The Pirates demoting Griffin back to the minor leagues, in hopes he rediscover's his swing to be called back up to the Major Leagues later in the year, isn't a strong possibility whatsoever.
While other prospects or fringe starters might have a risk of facing demotion amid some struggles, Griffin isn't expected to go anywhere anytime soon.
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Griffin has a .189 batting average through 12 games and 37 at-bats this season. He has just seven hits, five runs scored, two doubles, no home runs or triples, five RBIs, three walks, two hit-by-pitches, 12 strikeouts, and a .522 OPS.
Konnor Griffin has had a mixed performance, with a solid debut but overall struggles since joining the Pirates.
Don Kelly indicated that the team plans to keep Konnor Griffin on the roster despite his struggles.
Konnor Griffin has been playing at shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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It's not a good start to his MLB career by any means, but it's been just 12 games total. That's a very small sample size, and not nearly enough for the Pirates to demote their $140 million star prospect.
Pirates fans shouldn't expect Griffin to go anywhere anytime soon, as he's seemingly entrenched in the starting lineup barring some significant struggles or some big change.