Konnor Griffin active, won’t begin as everyday player

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Out since July 5 with a broken bone in his hand, Konnor Griffin returns to the lineup Friday, although he won’t be out there every day.

“We are going to ease him in,” said Pirates manager Don Kelly pregame. “He played on Sunday, off on Monday, DH and shortstop, so he hasn’t even gone back-to-back in the field yet. He will here, it’s not going to be full go in the field every single day where it’s just unlimited to go.”

“We will take it day-by-day and see how his legs are doing. Pumped to get him back as fast as we could and also understanding that we are going to need to monitor it day-to-day.”

It’s the legs and stamina that are the issue more than the finger itself. There haven’t been issues with the finger swelling like with Oneil Cruz and his finger injury.

“For me, you can run, you can do everything that you want to do working out wise, but there is a reason spring training is so long, it is to get these guys going, playing games,” Kelly said. “It’s most of just making sure legs and everything else are underneath him as he works his way back into it.”

Griffin will also be batting in different spots in the lineup, Kelly said that will mostly depend on the opposing pitchers. Sometimes he will be leadoff and some in the middle of the order.

“There is nothing that he does that isn’t full go, 100% and he attacked this rehab in the same manner,” Kelly said. “Really impressive that today I believe is the first day he is eligible to come off the 60 (day injured list) and that was his goal from day one. For him to attack it like that and make it a reality is really impressive.”

O’Hearn

First baseman Ryan O’Hearn remains on the injured list with a hamstring injury, but was out on the field going through fielding drills and testing his stretching, along with taking some of batting practice. There is no date set for his return.