Good Saturday morning!

• I don't think Konnor Griffin will come north.

That's not a forecast. That's a feel. Albeit an educated feel.

Of all the conversations I've been able to have spanning three days of covering spring training, no subject came up more often, nor with more gusto, than how the Pirates' management will handle Griffin, the franchise's most highly touted position-player prospect in ... wow, ever?

No, really, is he that?

The key term's touted in that sentence, so let's bear in mind there wasn't some sea of prospect rankings way back when Roberto Clemente could be cleverly concealed into a Rule 5 pick. And I'm sure I've never seen, heard or read these Griffin-level projections in this century about, say, Henry Davis or Pedro Alvarez or Andrew McCutchen. Heck, even Chad Hermansen, famously assessed to be able to "walk on water," couldn't carry Griffin's water in this category.

I appreciate that, too. Because the hype's hardly originating from within. These are external scouts, statistical services and media organizations. And it's everywhere. He's on every other cover of Baseball America. He's the poster child of MLB Pipeline. Even FanGraphs, baseball's preeminent bastion of acronym-coated analysis, this past week referred to Griffin as "a franchise-altering entity," like he's Godzilla eating Tokyo or something.

"Griffin's a freaky five-tool superstar with big power and enough contact ability to weaponize it," FanGraphs uncharacteristically raved. "He’s also incredibly fast and has quickly developed into a plus shortstop. He’s about to be one of the best young players in the game. He's not only clearly the best prospect in baseball, but one of the top handful of prospects ever evaluated during the current era of FanGraphs scouting, which goes back a little over 10 years."

Oh, wait, they hadn't even cleared their throat before this: "This is a complete player, an absolute monster who might make Paul Skenes the second-best guy on his team in short order, who might one day be mentioned in Pittsburgh in the same breath as Mean Joe Greene if they can find a way to get an extension done, and whose daily impact can help return the Pirates to long-awaited glory."

Cumulative 2025 stats, for the unchristened:

• Games: 122
• Plate appearances: 563
• Batting average: .333
• On-base percentage: .415
• Doubles: 23
• Triples: 4
• Home runs: 21
• Stolen bases: 65 of 78
• Runs: 117
• RBIs: 94
• Strikeouts/walks: 122/50

That's not hype. That's math.

Not to be outdone, some guy I know filmed him scaring birds off rooftops for a half-hour this week:

I could've watched so much more, too.

So, why not? Why wouldn't he fly with the team to New York for the March 26 opener against the Mets and stay penned atop Don Kelly's lineup for the foreseeable future? Why wouldn't a team with Major League Baseball's most meager offense of 2025 clear out every conceivable runway to make that happen as quickly as possible?

I can come up, based on those conversations, with two responses:

1. My God, he's barely played.

I'm serious. He's still 19 for another two months, he was drafted in 2024, and he's yet to produce 100 plate appearances above Class A, having achieved 98 toward the end of 2025 with Class AA Altoona. The small-headed, non-cheating version of Barry Bonds, who'd reach Pittsburgh in 1986 at age 20, logged 482 plate appearances in the minors and 186 above Class A, all with Class AAA Hawaii.

What's more -- and this makes the bigger impact on me -- is that Griffin's 2025 contains the entirety of Griffin's professional ledger. And as such, he's yet to experience anything remotely resembling adversity. Development people in any sport will attest that they'd always prefer seeing at least some failure, if only to study how a prospect deals with it. And that's doubly true in baseball, where failing only 70% of the time represents excellence.

Imagine making a mistake of this magnitude with Griffin.

That's what I'm hearing, above all else. Management would be fine with a month or two or more of Nick Gonzales or Jared Triolo at first, even if a green Griffin might contribute more toward the team's now openly stated goal of making the playoffs. They're adamant that they'll prioritize Griffin's progress above anything related to the 2025 team.

I can't argue that. Any of it. It's not as if there's some World Series to be won in a few months.

2. They still might do it, anyway.

To be clear, no one's ruled anything in or out.

See, there's one funniest element to this whole scenario: The Pirates just went through this with Skenes, and he rocketed up in less than a year with no more than a whistle-stop tour through the minors. Thirty-four total innings. Contained to a calendar year. Relatively zero adversity.

So if Griffin were to go nuts in Grapefruit ball, which begins today against the Orioles in Sarasota, Fla., and if he were to persist with all the poise he's shown to go with the power, the productivity, the speed, the sizzle at short, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound tight end's frame that has him literally towering above his peers ... let's just say there'd be deep deliberation.

I'll give the kid credit on this count alone: The head's screwed on right.

He and I spoke a couple times this week, and when I mentioned to him the FanGraphs piece, he'd already been aware, but he also shook his head and responded, "Honestly, it's hard to avoid it all. But that's OK. I can deal with that. I know I just need to be my best self."

And when, I followed up, does he need to do that?

"Today. And then, tomorrow. Whatever my team needs from me."

And New York?

"I'll do whatever my team needs from me. I can't be thinking about that. I'm not a big-leaguer. These guys who've been here, that's for them. I'm just working as hard as I can to become one of them."

Yep. But he knows. There's something of a silent swagger to him, and that's surprised me here somewhat. He's driving maybe the fanciest, most multicolored vehicle in the players' lot. He's keeping a side-eye on those rooftop bombs before moving slyly, slowly out of the batting cage. His chin's up. His chest's out. He even blurted out on reporting day that his ultimate goal's to be voted into the Hall of Fame.

I'm not envisioning the Mets would spook him much. Just saying.

• Not going to lie: Had a terrific time here. The energy, the enthusiasm in this environment ... it's as authentic as any I've covered in three decades of coming down here.

• My own opening lineup, apology-free:

1. Konnor Griffin, SS
2. Brandon Lowe, 2B
3. Bryan Reynolds, LF
4. Ryan O'Hearn, RF
5. Marcell Ozuna, DH
6. Oneil Cruz, CF
7. Spencer Horwitz, 1B
8. Henry Davis, C
9. Jared Triolo, 3B

• My rotation:

1. Paul Skenes
2. Mitch Keller
3. Bubba Chandler
4. Braxton Ashcraft
5. Lefty I'm expecting to be added

• My closer:

• My boldest prediction, which I'll cede to Tony Beasley, who's blissfully back in the fold as a coach: A Gold Glove in center for Cruz. No, really. He's sold.

• My swing vote: It's Reynolds. Singularly. The new guys could rake like crazy, and it won't matter without peak Reynolds. 

And I shared this with him, too, prompting him to reply, "Yeah, I know. And I want that."

• My wildest variable: It's easy to forget Davis was No. 1 overall. By all rights and precedents, he should've been in all these same discussions. Still needs to hit.

"I'm feeling really good at my swing," he'd tell me. "Feeling really good overall. Just need to take it out onto the field now and deliver."

• My breakout hope: Yohan Ramirez?

The pen needs more back-end depth. His stuff's as dynamic as anyone's. Unfair at times. He and Dennis Santana are best buds, virtually inseparable, and maybe some of the latter's command will rub off.

• My ultimate hope for 2026: Salary cap system.

But only after the Dodgers take a third straight title, if only to further prove the point.

Talk about unfair. It's time for a change. It's time to erase payrolls from the baseball lexicon, whether owners are spending too much or too little. It's time to do this the same way every other damned sport does.

• My favorite sight here: A happy, hearty and always hilarious Steve Blass, still, as ever, the strongest possible representation of all that's been good about the Pittsburgh Baseball Club. I see this man, and I see all the living alumni at a single glance.

• I'll be hitting the road to follow the Penguins over the next month, every game, home and road, amid their push to the Stanley Cup playoffs. But I won't be nearly as distant from the Pirates as I'd envisioned, beginning with that series at Citi Field.

Thanks so much for reading my baseball coverage all week. Never taken for granted.