Baseball’s No. 1 prospect delivered a No. 1 moment.
On Wednesday night, Konnor Griffin’s father, Kevin, the head softball coach at Belhaven University in Jackson, Miss., stepped into the broadcast booth just as his son came to bat for Double-A Altoona in the top of the fifth inning against Erie at UPMC Park.
In a 3-1 count, the 19-year-old jumped on an elevated fastball and launched an opposite-field homer that took one bounce before it crossed the street beyond the right-field wall.
“I might stay up here the whole game,” his father joked with a laugh.
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It’s easy to laugh when your son is putting up numbers like this.
The perfectly timed blast from the Pirates’ 2024 first-rounder was his fifth at Double-A -- the third level he’s played this year. Everywhere he’s gone, he’s hit.
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On the season, Griffin is slashing .333/.418/.535 with 48 extra-base hits (21 homers) and 65 stolen bases. At every stop -- Single-A Bradenton, High-A Greensboro and now Double-A Altoona -- his OPS sits north of .900.
Wednesday was just another example: a three-hit, four-RBI night that marked his 45th multihit game in 118 appearances.
And in a matchup featuring three Top 10 prospects -- Griffin, Erie’s Kevin McGonigle (MLB No. 2) and Max Clark (MLB No. 9) -- it wasn’t Altoona’s 11-2 win that stood out most. It was a father watching his son deliver a No. 1-type moment.