Konnor Griffin Gets the Call & New Pitches That Have Our Attention
Rates & Barrels: A show about Baseball
The Athletic
4.7 • 874 Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2026
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Eno, Trevor, and DVR discuss the Pirates' promotion of top prospect Konnor Griffin (whose agreement to a nine-year extension was revealed after the episode was recorded), the long-term outlook on Shane Baz, how pitchers impact a hitter's bat speed, and new pitches that have caught our eye through the first week of the season.
Rundown
0:26 Baseball's Top Prospect Gets the Call: Konnor Griffin to Debut on Friday
3:54 Buying the Pirates? Will They Snap Seven-Year Streak of Losing Seasons?
8:31 Breaking Down Shane Baz's Extension with the Orioles: Five-Year, $56 Million
19:40 How Pitchers Impact a Hitter's Bat Speed
29:56 Does Fast Swing Rate Against Pitchers Tell Us More than Average Bat Speeds?
35:03 New Pitches: Pitchers With Better Outlooks Thanks to New Offerings
57:18The Rangers' Nacho Sombrero is Real?!
Follow Eno on Bluesky: @enosarris.bsky.social
Follow DVR on Bluesky: @DVR.bsky.social
Follow Trevor on Bluesky: @iamtrevormay.bsky.social
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Hosts: Derek VanRiper & Eno Sarris
With: Trevor May
Editor: Jason Potere
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today on Rates and Barrels, we discussed the promotion of Pirates Top Prospect, Conor Griffin, |
| 0:04.7 | how pitchers can slow down a hitter's bat speed and a few new pitches that have caught our eye in the first week. |
| 0:10.6 | Let's go. |
| 0:22.3 | Welcome, Rates and Barrels. |
| 0:23.9 | It's Thursday, April 2nd. |
| 0:26.4 | Derek Van Rhyp, Verino-Saris, Trevor May here. |
| 0:30.4 | Tons of baseball news you should know as we get started today. And the most exciting item is that Connor Griffin is set to debut on Friday. |
| 0:36.1 | It's going to be part of the Pirates Home Opener. |
| 0:39.4 | I mean, imagine that. |
| 0:40.3 | Trevor, all it took was a week at AAA for Connor Griffin |
| 0:43.2 | to answer the lingering questions the Pirates had about his development. |
| 0:46.9 | It's amazing how quickly that that all comes together. |
| 0:49.9 | Though he did start pretty hot, seven hits. |
| 0:52.7 | Though no homers, that's big issue for me. |
| 0:55.9 | I'm just saying, I mean, is you ready? |
| 0:58.4 | Yeah, it doesn't really solve the, what was it, April 9th was going to be the |
| 1:03.1 | avoid super two date, I think. |
| 1:06.4 | What is the thinking? |
| 1:08.1 | I think it's having the big party for the home opener. |
| 1:10.5 | I think it's, hey, we're really all in. |
| 1:12.9 | We started three and three after a really weird opening day where O'Neill Cruz had one of the worst defensive days in the outfield possible. |
| 1:20.9 | In a Paul Skeen's outing, no less. |
... |
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