Griffin
Abington Heights graduate Conner Griffin launched a professional baseball career in July.
The Cincinnati Reds made Griffin, who recently completed his junior season at Binghamton University, a 10th-round pick in the Major League Baseball Draft on July 12.
Griffin signed with the Reds organization July 16 and was assigned to the team’s Arizona Complex the next day. He was officially placed on the roster of the Reds’ team in the Arizona Complex League, a rookie league, July 29, the day the ACL season ended.
The 302nd pick overall, Griffin’s selection was the second-earliest round ever for a pitcher from Binghamton, a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I team.
The velocity that Griffin has developed raised his stock to the point where he was picked in the top half of this year’s draft, one round ahead of Binghamton teammate Jackson Mitchell, who was picked by the Florida Marlins.
Griffin and Mitchell helped Binghamton to back-to-back America East Conference championships.
“What a wonderful day for Conner, Jackson and their families,” Binghamton coach Tim Sinicki said, according to a story posted on the school’s athletic website. “I’m so proud of how hard they’ve worked to put themselves in this position. I know they will both make the most of this opportunity. The Reds and Marlins are getting outstanding young men with electric stuff and unmatched work ethics.”
Bill Zalewski, who coached Griffin at Abington Heights, also pointed to the 6-foot-6, right-hander’s work ethic in a phone interview.
“He was hitting 101 miles per hour in college,” Zalewski said. “Griff is an extremely hard worker, and if you just look at his body type, he’s a prime candidate to be a Major League pitcher.
“He has all the tools, the work ethic and everything that goes with it. You can see that he has been working out all the time.”
Griffin was the No. 1 pitcher at Binghamton, where he made 15 starts for the team that reached the NCAA Regionals after winning the conference in both the regular season and postseason tournament. He posted a 3.93 earned run average with 65 strikeouts in 60 1/3 innings to earn second-team America East all-star recognition.
“I don’t even think he’s scratched the surface,” Zalewski said. “I think he’s got a lot of room to keep getting better.”
Griffin threw five scoreless innings to help Binghamton open the America East Tournament with a 3-0 win over UMass-Lowell. His final college game saw him hold ninth-ranked West Virginia, an eventual College World Series participant, to three hits in three innings.
After the college season, Griffin joined the State College Spikes of the Major League Baseball Draft League, a high-level collegiate summer league. He made one appearance there, giving up two runs in two innings, before being drafted.
