BRADENTON, Florida — In the Pittsburgh Pirates’ first day in Bradenton, Florida for Spring Training, ace Paul Skenes matched up with baseball’s top prospect Konnor Griffin in batting practice.
Griffin, 19, is likely to be on the team’s opening day roster and Pirates’ manager Don Kelly seems impressed early. “That was fascinating yesterday. It was really cool,” Kelly began. “That’s a tough at-bat for Konnor. I didn’t see the social media post, so I’m not sure how in depth it got, but I know Paul got him on three fastballs the one time.” Skenes reportedly struck Griffin out the first time they faced off. However, Griffin came back strong the next time he came up against Skenes. “And then Konnor came back, made a good adjustment, stayed on a slider and hit a line drive to left,” Kelly continued. “It was really cool to see those two going at it and any experience that Konnor can get against any of the major league pitchers is going to be really valuable.”
Talking with Pirates manager Don Kelly on a ZOOM press conference. DK confirmed that Paul Skenes struck out Konnor Griffin on three fastballs in their first batting practice AB yesterday.
The next at bat, Griffin “made an adjustment” and lined a ball to left field.
— Ethan Merrill (@_ethanjmerrill) February 10, 2026
Paul Skenes was also asked about Griffin’s early progress and Skenes was very complimentary of what he saw from his Rookie teammate: “Yeah, I think it’s funny that everything I see about him is clarifying that he’s 19 years old because you wouldn’t think that,” Skenes said earlier today. “He’s super mature, super professional about how he goes about his business. Talking to him, it doesn’t say ’19 year old’ when you interact with him.”
Skenes went on to say, “It’s going to be fun. I’m excited to see his development and excited to have him help us win a lot of games in Pittsburgh this year.”
On what advice he’s given Griffin so far, Skenes said, “Yeah, he’s built for it. I haven’t talked to him a ton; I’m sure everyone is trying to get a piece of him right now. That conversation will probably happen at some point, but he just needs to be himself and play the game. It’s no different than what he did last year or in high school, it’s just baseball, he’s a pro so he’ll be fine.”
Paul Skenes on Konnor Griffin⬇️ pic.twitter.com/JZO3HlvDfS
— SleeperPirates (@SleeperPirates) February 11, 2026
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