The Pittsburgh Pirates have the top prospect in baseball, as MLB Pipeline elevated shortstop/outfielder Konnor Griffin to No. 1 in its top 100 rankings Thursday.
The 6-foot-4, 225-pound shortstop/outfielder has a .324/.400/.511 slash line with 16 doubles, 13 home runs, 53 RBIs and 42 stolen bases in 79 games split between Low-A Bradenton and High-A Greensboro.
Griffin has rocketed through the rankings this season, starting at No. 43 before moving up to No. 13 by July. That made his in-season jump to No. 1 unprecedented. At 19 years, 3 months, he became the second-youngest player (behind Wander Franco, at 18 years, five months in mid-2019) to rise to the top ranking.
Baseball has a new No. 1 prospect …
Meet 19-year-old Konnor Griffin, the @Pirates' 2024 first-rounder who has made an unprecedented rise to the top spot: https://t.co/5kpelRenck pic.twitter.com/yUO2kkEuYc
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 24, 2025
What separates Griffin is that the 2024 No. 9 overall pick is the first player to become MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 prospect in his first full pro season.
When MLB Pipeline reviewed its team top 30 rankings before the July 31 trade deadline, Griffin leapfrogged Bubba Chandler, a 22-year-old right-handed pitcher at Triple-A Indianapolis as the Pirates’ top prospect. With Chandler ranked No. 2 overall in its top 100 in May, Griffin jumped from No. 11 to the No. 2 spot while Chandler dropped to the No. 5 overall ranking.
The top spot opened when the Boston Red Sox promoted outfielder Roman Anthony and he graduated from prospect status. Baseball America also has Griffin ranked as its No. 2 prospect behind Anthony, so its rankings could reflect the same once updated.
Ranked between Griffin and Chandler on MLB Pipeline’s top 100 are Cincinnati Reds right-hander Chase Burns at No. 2, San Diego Padres High-A shortstop Leo DeVries and Texas Rangers Double-A shortstop/third baseman Sebastian Walcott. The only other Pirates prospect to be ranked in the top 100 is Triple-A left-hander Hunter Barco, who comes in at No. 72.
