PITTSBURGH — For the first time since injuring his left ring finger, Konnor Griffin will be transitioning out of the splints he’s been wearing to manage the injury.
Griffin was placed on the 10-day injured list on July 7 (retroactive to July 6) with a left ring finger sagittal back injury. The Pirates transitioned him to the 60-day IL four days later.
Pirates Senior Director of Sports Medicine Todd Tomczyk informed reporters on Monday that Griffin is a little bit ahead of schedule.
“He’s been cleared to transition out of the splints you’ve seen him in,” said Tomczyk. “You will still see his hand taped – and that’s part of this transition phase. Over the next 48-72 hours, you’ll see him putting his hand in the glove. You’ll see him gripping the bat fully. You’ll also see him do all of the other baseball stuff that he was cleared to do from the get-go. Once we reached this point, where the injured hand was healed – and it is – that hopefully it will be a smoother and quicker transition back to baseball activities.”
The plan for Griffin is to head to Florida when the Pirates travel out west to begin a nine-game road trip after Wednesday’s series finale against the Tigers at PNC Park. The goal in Florida will be for Griffin to play catch and begin a swinging progression at the end of the week.
Griffin is eligible to return to the field on Sep. 4, and there is optimism Griffin can hit that target.
“We’ll know more when he gets to Florida but, at this time, we’re optimistic that the first day he’s eligible to return is still in play at this time,” said Tomczyk.
Griffin has totaled 59 games in his rookie season with the Pirates and carries a .276/.332/.404 batting line with 10 doubles, two triples, five home runs, 25 RBI and 20 steals. He’s played 56 games at shortstop and has one defensive run saved with a .971 fielding percentage.
Johnson Undergoing Sugery
Pirates second base prospect Termarr Johnson will undergo left knee surgery on Thursday. The surgery, which will be performed by Dr. Dan Cooper, is a left knee ACL reconstruction plus an LCL procedure.
“Unfortunately [Termarr] sustained a pretty traumatic knee injury … We’ll have a much more definitive time frame of return after the surgery is complete,” said Tomczyk.
Johnson was injured on Aug. 8 while running to first on a ground ball. The 22-year-old had his knee bend awkardly at first base and was taken off the field in a cart with an air cast wrapped around his leg.
Additional Updates
- C/1B Endy Rodríguez continues to deal with left hip issues that have plagued him since June. He is seeking a second opinion on the injury that landed him on the 10-day IL on Thursday (retroactive to Aug. 10).
- OF/1B Ryan O’Hearn has started some light baseball activities (throwing, swinging in batting cage) and will transition down to Florida. He’s roughly three weeks post-injury (left quad strain) and is currently on track to return by the original timeline of eight weeks until full game activity.
- RHP Mitch Keller (right arm teres major muscle injury) is very early on and doing general range of motion activities.
- RHP Seth Hernandez (oblique) was transferred to the 60-day injured list with High-A Greensboro. Like Keller, he is out for the season.
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