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By Mallory Mattingly
Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Konnor Griffin’s relationship with Christ brings him peace on the baseball field.
“If there were tough games, like that’s where I found my peace, knowing that, you know, I feel like I’m called to play baseball, but at the end of the day, that’s not the most important thing. Most important thing is, you know, living my life to share the word, share the gospel,” Griffin told CBN Sports. “And, you know, to live in eternity, in heaven.”
“And that’s just brought such peace to me, you know, through the times of adversity, and helped me kind of separate my identity from being a baseball player to being a Christian and a believer, trying to share that, share the word,” he emphasized.
On April 3, Griffin made his MLB debut with the Pirates.
“4.3.26 An unforgettable day. All glory to God! Thank you to all the people that have supported me throughout this journey. I am proud to be a Pittsburgh Pirate!” he wrote in a post on Instagram celebrating the moment.
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Griffin had the best series of his career thus far over the weekend. The Pirates hosted the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park.
According to Sports Illustrated, out of 12 at-bats, Griffin totaled six hits. He hit “.500, while scoring three runs, hitting two doubles, one triple, three RBI and walking twice with just one strikeout in the sweep of a tough rival from the the National League Central Division.”
In the second game against the Reds, he came alive. He secured an “RBI-double in the bottom of the first inning to make it a 5-2 lead and then was the seventh consecutive walk for the Pirates in the bottom of the second inning, tying a MLB record and making it a 9-3 game.”
In the bottom of the fourth inning, he hit a triple, which he would then score on. Late in the game, Griffin added two more singles. All four of Griffin’s hits in that game were above 100 mph.
“Yeah, just seeing it well,” Griffin said on his performance in the second game of the series. “Trying to get a good swing off on a good pitch and just competing. That was a big win. Needed to win the series and I’m glad to be able to do my part.”
In the third game, the shortstop hit a huge double in the bottom of the eighth.
“Just got a good pitch,” Griffin said about that hit while wearing a shirt that said “Jesus Won.” “Got a good barrel on it, and I saw it go off the top of the wall again. That was a cool moment, trying to get to second. Got great guys behind me [who] support me easy and won a game. So that was pretty cool.”
Pirates manager Don Kelly praised Griffin for his incredible play in the series.
“Huge,” Kelly shared, per Sports Illustrated. “He continues to get better, continues to make adjustments. He crushed that ball to center field. It was so close to going out. He continues to make adjustments offensively, continues to get better defensively, runs the bases extremely well. Just the attitude that he brings every day is infectious.”
Even though he’s finding great success on the field, Griffin knows that sharing the gospel is his ultimate goal.
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