Drew Aller

Now, whether he can handle the grind, he played 122 games last year across three levels.

Whether he can handle the grind of the travel, which is a big difference,

In the minor leagues, you play six games.

You're off every Monday, and you don't travel during the week.

You play six games at home, then six games away.

So the travel is going to be a grind.

The season is going to be a grind.

And talking to Isaiah Conner-Falefa last year, playing shortstop and playing defense at a high level can really take away from a shortstop's offensive game.

And so that's something the Pirates have to consider.

Do they want Connor Griffin to be a guy who's an impact player with his bat?

There's a lot of variables, Joe, but I think by mid-March, we should have a better idea when the WC concludes of where Connor Griffin stands with this team and how the Pirates are feeling about it, whether they want to move forward with him as their shortstop or whether they want to give him some time in AAA and ease him in because they've made it very clear his development is the priority, and they've also talked in the past about

dominating every level.

So he's not had a chance to dominate AAA, let alone even play in AAA before he gets to the major leagues.

Perhaps the Pirates have in their plans to do that, to let him go down to AAA, show that he's ready for that level before they bring him up to the majors and expose him to the best pitching in the world.

It's the player performance incentive that if you have a guy who's considered a top 100 prospect, there's incentive to bring him up and give him a chance to win Rookie of the Year.

And if he does win those Rookie of the Year or MVP type of awards or even get votes,

I think if you finish in top three voting, then you can get rewarded with a draft pick.

And that's something where the Pirates brought Paul Skeens along very deliberately because of his pitch count and because of his innings count, that this is a guy who had to handle a heavy workload as a junior at LSU, and they wanted to try to have him at the end of the season more so than at the beginning.

But Connor Griffin's a different story.

Like, you know, this is a guy who, you know, you expect him to be able to handle playing 100 plus games.