With Spring Training and the 2026 MLB season within sight, ESPN has released their list of the Top 100 MLB prospects for the upcoming season. Atop their list was the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Konnor Griffin, who has been touted as one of the best prospects in recent history.
ESPN MLB Insider Kiley McDaniel compiled the list of prospects and cited that Griffin’s tools far surpassed any other prospect from this class and put him in the upper echelon of some of the best players in the game today.
“Griffin is the top prospect in baseball by a mile, and I almost put him in the 70 FV tier, which is the highest I’ll put any hypothetical prospect, as that means I expect him to be on MVP ballots with 5-plus WAR seasons every year,” McDaniel wrote. “If I move him to a 70 FV, that would put Griffin in the conversation with Bryce Harper, Mike Trout and other top prospects of this era.”
McDaniel went on to give Griffin pro comps to Fernando Tatis Jr. because of his frame and overall talent, as well as Bobby Witt Jr. because of his skills as a shortstop with a blend of power and speed that makes him dangerous both in the batter’s box and on the base pads.
While these are still all projections for how good Griffin can be, McDaniel did note that to this point the game has not looked difficult for him and has excelled everywhere he’s been in his young career.
“We don’t currently know the limits of what Griffin can do on a baseball field, ranging from being the most talented player in his age group since early in high school to fixing what some swing gurus thought was a fatal flaw to his game in a matter of months,” McDaniel wrote. “Projecting him to make further adjustments seems like a formality now.”
Since Griffin stepped foot on the field for the first time as a professional, it was clear that he could be something special. The Pirates drafted him ninth overall in the 2024 draft as the best high school prospect in the class. He would make his pro debut in 2025 with the Bradenton Marauders. From there it was only a matter of time before the top prospect in Pittsburgh’s system was going to make a name for himself.
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After 50 games with Bradenton, Griffin was called up to High-A Greensboro where he really started to establish himself as one of the best players in the world. He would be added to the National League Futures roster during the All-Star break, and would then pick up where he left off by being promoted to Altoona and helping them during their postseason run. The 19-year-old short stop finished the 2025 season with a slash line of .333/.415/.527 to go along with a .942 OPS, 21 home runs, 94 RBIs and 65 stolen bases.
With those great numbers came a great amount of individual accolades for Griffin. Baseball America named him the top Minor League player of the year and a Minor League All-Star. USA Today named Griffin the top Minor League player of the year as well. He was also named a Rawlings MiLB Gold Glove award recipient with other numerous All-Star nominations being claimed by Griffin as well.
With the way that the Pirates are currently constructed, Griffin has a very real chance at making an impact in the Major Leagues as early as this year. The Mississippi native was one of the several prospects to be non-roster invitees to big league Spring Training in Bradenton, and it’s speculated that his time with the Pirates will not end there this season. Even if he’s not in Pittsburgh immediately following Spring Training, there’s still a chance that he get’s called up at some point in the season.
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McDaniel noted that given Griffin’s inexperience he might not be called up this early, but did cite that the “superstars almost always arrive ahead of schedule”.
“There’s chatter he could break camp as the every-day big league shortstop and possibly garner a bonus draft pick for the Pirates if he wins National League Rookie of the Year,” McDaniel wrote.“Add Griffin to Paul Skenes, with Bubba Chandler also breaking into the big leagues with front-line upside, and you can start to imagine how this team could electrify the Steel City.”
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