Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / 🚨EMERGENCY POD🚨 Konnor Griffin is called up for Home Opener

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🚨EMERGENCY POD🚨 Konnor Griffin is called up for Home Opener · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Buco Territory,
0:13
Speaker 1: presented to you by the Fall Territory Network. Josh Harrison
0:16
Speaker 1: and Platinum Key aka Mark are joining me for breaking
0:22
Speaker 1: news episode of Bucco Territory. I'm no Ohiles, by the way.
0:26
Speaker 1: We're all here to talk about Connor Griffin, the game's
0:30
Speaker 1: top prospect called up to the major leagues. The team
0:33
Speaker 1: announced the move Thursday morning, less or just a little
0:38
Speaker 1: before twenty four hours before the Pirates will take the
0:41
Speaker 1: field at PNC Park for their home opener on Friday afternoon.
0:45
Speaker 1: Connor Griffin plays just five games with Triple A Indianapolis.
0:49
Speaker 1: I guess that development wasn't that big of a deal
0:52
Speaker 1: because he will be the starting shortstop at just nineteen
0:55
Speaker 1: years old for the Pirates and their home opener, a
0:58
Speaker 1: move that we dissipated coming. Didn't know when it was
1:02
Speaker 1: going to happen this home stand. Felt pretty confident that
1:05
Speaker 1: it was going to be this home stand, and sure
1:07
Speaker 1: enough it comes on the first day of this home stand.
1:10
Speaker 1: I'll throw it to both of you guys, just your
1:12
Speaker 1: immediate reaction to the news go ahead.
1:15
Speaker 2: Josh definitely uh excited for the young man and excited
1:21
Speaker 2: for Pittsburgh.
1:22
Speaker 1: Man.
1:22
Speaker 2: It's something to be you know, excited for and about,
1:27
Speaker 2: not just about you know, Connor Griffin himself, but I
1:30
Speaker 2: mean this Pirates team. Granted, first five games haven't gone
1:33
Speaker 2: that well, but the last two you got a little
1:35
Speaker 2: bit of momentum headed home and uh, we've we talked
1:39
Speaker 2: about it before, you know, opening day, like how special
1:43
Speaker 2: Opening Day is. This is an opportunity for this opening
1:45
Speaker 2: day to be that much more special and uh just
1:48
Speaker 2: excited to see the city show up and show out
1:51
Speaker 2: and uh, you know rut the Pirate's own for what
1:53
Speaker 2: could be a very special day.
1:55
Speaker 3: Yeah. I've had goosebumps. It's been like about an hour
1:58
Speaker 3: and a half or so since the news was announced,
2:01
Speaker 3: and just perpetual just like what this is so awesome.
2:06
Speaker 3: I'm getting calls and texts from like friends and family
2:08
Speaker 3: just being like you see the news, You see the news,
2:10
Speaker 3: like yeah, yeah, I saw it. This is gonna be
2:13
Speaker 3: just an absolutely electric atmosphere at PNC Park Friday afternoon.
2:19
Speaker 3: I cannot imagine how like more amped up I could
2:22
Speaker 3: be for a home opener than getting this news coming
2:24
Speaker 3: off two back to back wins, winning a series over
2:27
Speaker 3: the Reds. O'Neil Cruz is just hitting dingers left and right.
2:31
Speaker 3: It's it's a great time to be a Pirates fan.
2:33
Speaker 3: So get excited, all right.
2:36
Speaker 1: So let's put this into context real quick. Connor Griffin
2:40
Speaker 1: two years ago on this day, was finishing up his
2:43
Speaker 1: senior year of high school at Jackson Prep School in Jackson, Mississippi.
2:48
Speaker 1: A year ago, on this day, Connor Griffin was just
2:50
Speaker 1: finishing what I believe would have been his first full
2:53
Speaker 1: week in minor league baseball with Low A Bradenton. He
2:58
Speaker 1: wasn't even a full time shorts then. He was still
3:01
Speaker 1: playing center field. They hadn't even let him commit fully
3:04
Speaker 1: to being a shortstop that early end of the year yet.
3:08
Speaker 1: And now, on Friday, at nineteen years old, he will
3:12
Speaker 1: make his major league debut. He will be the first
3:14
Speaker 1: teenage position player to play in an MLB game since
3:18
Speaker 1: Juan Soto in twenty eighteen. He'll be the first teenage
3:22
Speaker 1: position player to play in a game with his within
3:25
Speaker 1: his team's first seven games of a season since Adrian
3:29
Speaker 1: Beltray in nineteen ninety nine, and he will be the
3:32
Speaker 1: youngest position player in a game within his team's first
3:36
Speaker 1: seven games of the season since Andrew Jones in nineteen
3:40
Speaker 1: ninety seven. So those three names right there, Andrew Jones,
3:44
Speaker 1: Adrian Beltray, Juan Soto. The first two are in Cooperstown,
3:49
Speaker 1: and the third one Will has a very good shot
3:53
Speaker 1: of being there as well. That's not to say that
3:55
Speaker 1: that's where Connor Griffin's going to end up, but that's
3:58
Speaker 1: the type of territory in right now.
4:00
Speaker 2: Guys.
4:01
Speaker 1: It is something that you do not see frequently. It's
4:05
Speaker 1: that this type of conversation has happened three times since
4:10
Speaker 1: the Clinton administration, so it's been a long time. Josh
4:14
Speaker 1: is a guy who knows how difficult it is to
4:17
Speaker 1: go from, you know, just being a high school ballplayer
4:21
Speaker 1: to a big leaguer. What I mean, how can you
4:25
Speaker 1: break down how impressive this rise has been.
4:30
Speaker 2: I don't know if words really can break it down.
4:32
Speaker 2: As you mentioned just two years ago, he's finishing up
4:35
Speaker 2: his senior high school. And even those that finished senior
4:39
Speaker 2: high school, where do they typically go after that college
4:41
Speaker 2: for three years or let alone? If you do go
4:44
Speaker 2: to pro ball, you're going to a short season rookie ball,
4:47
Speaker 2: and you know when you come back to spring and
4:49
Speaker 2: following the year you're probably repeating because you're still nineteen
4:51
Speaker 2: years old. What you have seen? Does this guy go
4:55
Speaker 2: from graduating high school to you know, basically a year
5:00
Speaker 2: ye and a half later, being at the highest level
5:03
Speaker 2: and starting at a position one that he doesn't really
5:05
Speaker 2: have much experience at, but has shown just how good
5:10
Speaker 2: he can be. And as you said, this is something
5:13
Speaker 2: you don't see every day. The three names that you
5:16
Speaker 2: mentioned before, you know, there's definitely a testament to you know,
5:20
Speaker 2: the potential that this kid has. And we've already had
5:23
Speaker 2: him on you know, buckle territory, which is you know,
5:26
Speaker 2: pretty cool. But just giving that, you know, he also
5:29
Speaker 2: seems like a kid that doesn't take anything for granted.
5:32
Speaker 2: So I think that makes it that much more easier
5:36
Speaker 2: to root for a kid like this. But uh, you
5:38
Speaker 2: typically don't see people coming out of high school in
5:40
Speaker 2: a year and a half or two years later being
5:41
Speaker 2: in the major leagues. You know, you very rarely see
5:45
Speaker 2: them being passed short season or rookie ball. So that
5:49
Speaker 2: right there is enough to say he has not only
5:52
Speaker 2: opened eyes, he's pretty much shown like, oh I am
5:55
Speaker 2: the best player here.
5:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's kicked the door down and forced his way
5:59
Speaker 3: onto this team and counter Griffin's not just like a
6:02
Speaker 3: number one overall prospect, He's a generational type of prospect,
6:06
Speaker 3: like this is one of the most exciting prospects baseball
6:09
Speaker 3: has seen in years, not just the Pirates, this is
6:12
Speaker 3: one of the big big names. So to see him
6:15
Speaker 3: debut in Pittsburgh in the black and gold in front
6:18
Speaker 3: of a packed packed PNC Park for the home opener,
6:21
Speaker 3: it's fan fiction. Like I think, Noah, you laid out
6:25
Speaker 3: this entire situation. I think Josh said, oh yeah, he'll
6:28
Speaker 3: hit home run on at the home opener too. So
6:30
Speaker 3: we'll see on Friday if those predictions come true. But yeah,
6:34
Speaker 3: it's is going as best as it possibly could.
6:37
Speaker 1: Mark, I have some more fan perspective questions for you,
6:40
Speaker 1: but first I want to take a break from our
6:42
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6:44
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7:32
Speaker 1: All right, Mark, So last year and I wrote about
7:35
Speaker 1: this in my column that ran this morning at the
7:37
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh on the Pittsburgh Post that at put we're not
7:42
Speaker 1: cutting this. I need the world to see. How my
7:46
Speaker 1: column at Post dash Gazette dot com this morning talked
7:49
Speaker 1: about last year's home opener, how I've been almost every
7:53
Speaker 1: Pirates home opener since two thousand and five, and how
7:55
Speaker 1: last year's home opener didn't feel like a home opener.
7:59
Speaker 1: People showed upset. There was the cell of the team
8:02
Speaker 1: plane that flew above the stadium before first pitch. They
8:05
Speaker 1: were to sell the team chance. People recognize the missing
8:08
Speaker 1: Bucco bricks, They recognized the side ad and right field
8:12
Speaker 1: Bob Nutting got chased through the left field rotunda by
8:15
Speaker 1: an angry fan, and it was on social media, and
8:18
Speaker 1: it was just a disaster. The Pirates got crushed by
8:20
Speaker 1: the Yankees. Mitch Keller had a bad start. They felt
8:24
Speaker 1: I believe two and five on the year, maybe two
8:26
Speaker 1: and six. It was a disaster all around. And I
8:30
Speaker 1: just remember writing that even before the game started, it
8:33
Speaker 1: didn't feel like a home opener, because a home opener
8:36
Speaker 1: for every team in baseball, regardless of when it takes place,
8:39
Speaker 1: if it's opening Day or if it's just, you know,
8:41
Speaker 1: a week later like it is in this case, it's
8:44
Speaker 1: supposed to be a day that represents hope and excitement that,
8:47
Speaker 1: regardless of what your team is projected to do, anything
8:50
Speaker 1: could happen and everyone should just be happy to be
8:52
Speaker 1: back at the ballpark. But that wasn't the case this year.
8:55
Speaker 1: This year, Mark, it is so different.
8:58
Speaker 2: Yeah.
8:58
Speaker 1: This They're coming off of the the most active offseason
9:01
Speaker 1: that I can ever remember. I've never I can't recall
9:04
Speaker 1: a time where they acquired two All Stars in the
9:07
Speaker 1: same offseason. I mean, they ended their multi year free
9:10
Speaker 1: agent on signing streak. They built a decent team, a
9:17
Speaker 1: team that's flawed, I think, but still shows that it's
9:20
Speaker 1: different than twenty twenty five. We saw some of the
9:22
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five Pirates in the first week of the season,
9:25
Speaker 1: but then we showed we noticed that this is a
9:28
Speaker 1: different team because it woke up and it showed that, Hey,
9:31
Speaker 1: you know, our bad is bad, but our good is
9:33
Speaker 1: a lot better than the good was last year. So
9:36
Speaker 1: you have all of that, and now you add in
9:38
Speaker 1: Connor Griffin to the mix, a kid who makes this
9:42
Speaker 1: team better, a kid who will make this team better
9:44
Speaker 1: for the long term and for all intentsive purposes, seems
9:48
Speaker 1: to want to be here for the long run. Mark,
9:51
Speaker 1: I mean, just give us the fan perspective on what
9:53
Speaker 1: tomorrow could be like.
9:55
Speaker 3: It's just what we've been waiting for, is finally coming
9:59
Speaker 3: to fruition the Pirates fan. For the last five years,
10:02
Speaker 3: you've suffered through some bad moments, some tough moments, and
10:07
Speaker 3: now we finally get to have something to be excited about,
10:10
Speaker 3: legitimately excited about, not just me being optimistic for the
10:14
Speaker 3: sake of optimism or anything like. This is a good
10:17
Speaker 3: Pirates team and there's so much talent, there's so much newness. Yeah,
10:22
Speaker 3: if PNC is not just on its feet throughout the
10:25
Speaker 3: entire game, then I'll be shocked because if there's nothing
10:30
Speaker 3: that they could have done that would have made me
10:31
Speaker 3: more excited for right now, maybe uh extending counter Griffin,
10:36
Speaker 3: but you know, we'll get there. Give that some time
10:39
Speaker 3: the marinate. But yeah, so, but the perspective of just
10:43
Speaker 3: where we've come from the last few years. I mean,
10:45
Speaker 3: when Conter Griffin did his debut video with the like
10:48
Speaker 3: looking down up into the camera, it reminded me of
10:51
Speaker 3: when the Pirates hyped up signing Vince Velasquez in twenty
10:54
Speaker 3: twenty two, where that was their big signing that offseason,
10:58
Speaker 3: and that was the big social media post for like,
11:01
Speaker 3: their big debut of that year. Now we have a
11:04
Speaker 3: generational nineteen year old shortstop, number one prospect in baseball
11:08
Speaker 3: in that video, and we have a cy young pitcher
11:10
Speaker 3: who just got to win over the Cincinnati Reds the
11:13
Speaker 3: day before. It's a completely completely different feel as a
11:16
Speaker 3: fan base, and I'm so excited to get to PNC
11:20
Speaker 3: Park and just experience it myself this weekend.
11:23
Speaker 1: Yeah so, I mean you mentioned the extension mark. I
11:25
Speaker 1: feel like that's a good place for us to kind
11:27
Speaker 1: of take this conversation now. As We've talked about thoroughly
11:32
Speaker 1: on this show, and I've been reporting on for the
11:35
Speaker 1: last however many days, weeks, maybe even months, these two
11:40
Speaker 1: sides have been in talks, but the last couple of
11:45
Speaker 1: weeks have been quiet. From everything that I've heard, and
11:48
Speaker 1: I feel like I've got some pretty good information on
11:50
Speaker 1: this whole story. It seemed like the Pirates offered I mean,
11:54
Speaker 1: I know, we know what the Pirates offered him. It
11:56
Speaker 1: was eight years, one hundred and ten million guaranteed with
11:58
Speaker 1: the ninth year option, with to trade protection, with some
12:01
Speaker 1: incentive in there as well, some performance incentive escalators that
12:05
Speaker 1: could lead to more money. But that deal was offered
12:08
Speaker 1: to Connor Griffin. If he would have signed that deal,
12:10
Speaker 1: he probably breaks camp with the team out of opening
12:13
Speaker 1: or out of spring training. But he doesn't sign it
12:16
Speaker 1: because it seems like Griffin and the people who represent
12:20
Speaker 1: Griffin view him to be worth more. The comp that's
12:24
Speaker 1: been thrown out by a lot of people, including me,
12:26
Speaker 1: is Roman Anthony, last year's top prospect in baseball, who
12:29
Speaker 1: signed eight year deal worth one hundred and thirty million guaranteed.
12:33
Speaker 1: So that's obviously more than the one ten million guaranteed
12:36
Speaker 1: that the Pirates offered him. So because that offer was lower,
12:41
Speaker 1: Griffin and his people said no, we'll wait, We'll keep talking,
12:45
Speaker 1: and he was auctioned down to the minor leagues for
12:47
Speaker 1: five days. The Pirates had to get this guy up here,
12:50
Speaker 1: as we explained on this show, for the PPI compensation,
12:53
Speaker 1: he needed to be up here before April ninth, which
12:57
Speaker 1: is a week from the day we're recording this the
12:59
Speaker 1: second in order for him to be PPI eligible, which
13:02
Speaker 1: would mean he would play an entire Major League Baseball
13:05
Speaker 1: or get one hundred and seventy two days or more
13:07
Speaker 1: of Major League Baseball service time, which is equivalent to
13:10
Speaker 1: a whole year of MLB service time. And if he
13:14
Speaker 1: achieves that, which he will now do barring any minor
13:18
Speaker 1: league demotions this year, he will put the Pirates in
13:22
Speaker 1: place to receive a PPI draft pick if he wins
13:25
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year this year or finishes in top
13:28
Speaker 1: three NLMVP voting this year, next year or the year
13:32
Speaker 1: after that. So that was the incentive to get him
13:35
Speaker 1: up here, and it's also the incentive to get him
13:37
Speaker 1: up here so they can resume contract extensions because if
13:40
Speaker 1: they signed him to an extension prior to him being
13:44
Speaker 1: promoted to the major leagues, the PPI eligibility goes away.
13:49
Speaker 1: The extension signed by the prospects in Seattle and Milwaukee,
13:53
Speaker 1: those guys are minor leaguers. They can't get a PPI
13:56
Speaker 1: pick for those guys if they win Rookie of the Year,
13:58
Speaker 1: if they finished top three in MVP voting in the
14:01
Speaker 1: next three seasons, because they signed the contract before they
14:05
Speaker 1: made their MLB debut. Where Griffin now, as soon as
14:07
Speaker 1: he takes his first at bet now the extension talks
14:11
Speaker 1: become real. But another date to keep in mind here,
14:14
Speaker 1: and I'm not saying this is as consequential of a date,
14:17
Speaker 1: but just something to remember now, is that in order
14:21
Speaker 1: for an extension, like Josh, you signed your extension right
14:23
Speaker 1: before opening day, right, there's a reason why you want to.
14:26
Speaker 1: There's a couple of reasons why you want to do that,
14:28
Speaker 1: and I'll let you elaborate here in a second. The
14:30
Speaker 1: first is, obviously, you don't want that hanging over your
14:32
Speaker 1: head during a season. The second is you want to
14:34
Speaker 1: get that contract extension done early so it goes into
14:38
Speaker 1: effect for that season. If Connor if Connor Griffin signs
14:43
Speaker 1: his extension anytime past the twenty one day mark of
14:47
Speaker 1: opening Day, which is March twenty fifth, is when the
14:50
Speaker 1: first Major League Baseball regular season game was played this year,
14:53
Speaker 1: so that would mean April fourteenth. If he signs it
14:56
Speaker 1: anytime later than April fourteenth, that extension goes into effect
15:01
Speaker 1: next season, which means that eight year extension begins in
15:04
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, which means this year he's playing a
15:07
Speaker 1: pre r rookie deal, and there's not a lot of
15:10
Speaker 1: incentive for his side of the fence to accept that.
15:14
Speaker 1: If they're going to sign a deal that's eight years,
15:16
Speaker 1: they want year one of those eight years to be
15:19
Speaker 1: this year. So the clock is ticking at least as
15:23
Speaker 1: far as you know. I mean, the Pirates would love
15:25
Speaker 1: for that deal to go past the fourteenth because they
15:28
Speaker 1: just get a free year Connor Griffin. But if that's
15:30
Speaker 1: the case, then the price tag is going to skyrocket out. YEA. Yeah,
15:36
Speaker 1: they would have to offer him more money long term,
15:38
Speaker 1: and probably a year less. So I think as we look,
15:42
Speaker 1: and again from everything I've been told, the contract extension
15:46
Speaker 1: discussions kind of went quiet since opening day. Really I
15:52
Speaker 1: would expect them to pick up here soon and it
15:55
Speaker 1: would probably be in the best interest of both parties
15:57
Speaker 1: to get something done within the next two weeks or so.
16:02
Speaker 1: Less than that, yeah, next twelve days. So exciting stuff. Josh,
16:07
Speaker 1: Can you just talk a little bit about and you
16:09
Speaker 1: have done this before on this show, but what it
16:11
Speaker 1: is like to play baseball with that on your mind,
16:15
Speaker 1: because it's not easy.
16:17
Speaker 2: No, no, definitely not easy. But as we sit here,
16:22
Speaker 2: I think once has already been talked about, and even
16:25
Speaker 2: when those conversations get tabled, it allows you to come
16:30
Speaker 2: back to talks or negotiations a little easier because you
16:34
Speaker 2: already know where you left off. You're not starting from
16:36
Speaker 2: square one, so I can remember as as I mentioned,
16:41
Speaker 2: you know, Connor, they you mentioned it, you know, declined
16:45
Speaker 2: the first offer. But uh, we at least know where
16:47
Speaker 2: the starting point was for them to at least know
16:49
Speaker 2: where they got to get above. So obviously when you
16:52
Speaker 2: pick that back up, there's a I don't I don't
16:55
Speaker 2: want to say a common ground because we know the
16:57
Speaker 2: answer to that number is no. But at least you know,
17:00
Speaker 2: for the for these conversations to heat back up, you
17:03
Speaker 2: got to come better than what you offer before. So
17:05
Speaker 2: the ball is in you know, encounter's court and his
17:08
Speaker 2: camp's court. But at the same time, when you're dealing
17:11
Speaker 2: with a contract extension, you know, pre RB or anything,
17:16
Speaker 2: you know there's gonna be some compromise on both sides,
17:19
Speaker 2: you know, because you know, that's why you have escalators,
17:22
Speaker 2: That's why you have incentives, just because like, well, yes
17:25
Speaker 2: you may be leaving money on the table, we also
17:26
Speaker 2: may be overpaying vice versa. So that's where language gets
17:30
Speaker 2: a little I don't want to say Dicey or Harry,
17:32
Speaker 2: but you know, as a player, you just want to
17:34
Speaker 2: go out and play. But you know, I think it
17:38
Speaker 2: is in their best interest to get something done because,
17:41
Speaker 2: as you say, he's always forced his way and kicked
17:43
Speaker 2: down that door, and I think the opening week was
17:46
Speaker 2: more of a testament to him. And also just where
17:50
Speaker 2: the Pirates are defensively, the first week of defense was
17:54
Speaker 2: a debacle and you already see what happened. So I
17:58
Speaker 2: think it makes it that much more attractive in their
18:00
Speaker 2: eyes to lock down somebody that's gonna man the middle
18:04
Speaker 2: of the infield and take you know, some of that
18:07
Speaker 2: initiative to say, okay, we got the middle sold up.
18:10
Speaker 2: You know, sold up now and let's take care of
18:12
Speaker 2: these corners, and you move Triola back to third, which
18:14
Speaker 2: is you know, his rightful defending spot, and uh, it
18:17
Speaker 2: just takes that much more pressure off the rest of
18:19
Speaker 2: the defense. Granted, you're still gonna have some holes, but
18:22
Speaker 2: I think this past week was definitely, I don't want
18:25
Speaker 2: to say eye opening. You know, it was my my
18:29
Speaker 2: pick to be the biggest disappointment and and it was
18:33
Speaker 2: team defense. So I think it makes it that much
18:36
Speaker 2: more attractive. But it's not easy to play with those
18:39
Speaker 2: over your head. That's why you see guys wanting to
18:41
Speaker 2: get things done before the season starts, because once spring
18:45
Speaker 2: training is over, it's like, okay, we're shifting gears. But
18:48
Speaker 2: at the same time, you know, knowing the severity of
18:50
Speaker 2: you know, wanting to get things done, you do see
18:52
Speaker 2: talks going to the first week or two, but at
18:54
Speaker 2: the same time, you know these stats count, so you know,
18:57
Speaker 2: a guy might start out zero for four and did
18:59
Speaker 2: this like, oh man, this isn't helping the negotiations that
19:03
Speaker 2: might be going on now. So that's the human side
19:07
Speaker 2: of just going out and doing what you have to.
19:09
Speaker 2: And I think him being able to you know, turn
19:13
Speaker 2: down the first offer, one down the triple A. You know,
19:16
Speaker 2: show showed Connor Griffin baseball, you know, getting on base,
19:19
Speaker 2: stealing bases, doing what he does, something that you know
19:22
Speaker 2: is definitely needed up in Pittsburgh. And then you know,
19:26
Speaker 2: some energy. I think that's something that's going to be
19:30
Speaker 2: pretty much apparent when you see him step up. Just
19:32
Speaker 2: a little bit of that joke that Mangum was able
19:35
Speaker 2: to give, you know, just a little bit. You're going
19:37
Speaker 2: to see Connor be able to come up and give that,
19:39
Speaker 2: and not only him give that. I think the guys
19:41
Speaker 2: will feel it from the crowd, from the fans, and
19:44
Speaker 2: I think that in itself is enough as to why
19:48
Speaker 2: it's going to be special, because Pittsburgh is a special
19:50
Speaker 2: place to play and it's been a while, and rightfully so,
19:53
Speaker 2: it's been a long time coming. So let's go all.
19:56
Speaker 1: Right, guys, as we round up the show, let's all
19:58
Speaker 1: make a bold prediction about the home opener. We'll start
20:01
Speaker 1: with Mark.
20:06
Speaker 3: I'll go with uh Kinder Griffin goes two for four
20:09
Speaker 3: with a walk and two steals and hits a double.
20:14
Speaker 3: Just comes up shy at that home run that Josh
20:16
Speaker 3: is going to predict.
20:19
Speaker 2: I was gonna say mine had already been predicted. I
20:21
Speaker 2: said he was going yard and the Pirate's gonna win
20:24
Speaker 2: opening Day, So home opener win. Kind of Griffin. I
20:28
Speaker 2: don't want to say channeling his enner j Hey, because
20:30
Speaker 2: he's gonna be his own own man. But you know
20:33
Speaker 2: I did Homer on opening Day, so I'm pulling for
20:37
Speaker 2: that card.
20:38
Speaker 1: I'm gonna predict a single up the middle and his
20:41
Speaker 1: first at bat and then a stolen base a couple
20:43
Speaker 1: of pitches later, similar to another big time prospect who
20:47
Speaker 1: went on to become a face of the franchise for
20:49
Speaker 1: the Pirates and his major league debut.
20:51
Speaker 2: Uh, that happened when I was in middle school.
20:53
Speaker 1: So because that's kind of what this feels like. Uh
20:56
Speaker 1: is this is the start of something. Yeah, this is
20:59
Speaker 1: the start of something special, and we'll be here to
21:01
Speaker 1: cover it all. Hit that subscribe button if you haven't already.
21:06
Speaker 1: We are on a mission to three thousand subscribers. We
21:08
Speaker 1: can't get there without your help. We will have a
21:11
Speaker 1: lot of Connor Griffin coverage, a lot of Pirates coverage
21:14
Speaker 1: to talk about for this this Major League baseball season.
21:18
Speaker 1: You can also support the show by heading to our
21:20
Speaker 1: Bucco Territory team store, get some merch, and we're to
21:25
Speaker 1: the ballpark. Would love to see that we've also had.
21:28
Speaker 1: I got to give a shout out to who is
21:30
Speaker 1: our guy who won the tickets, Adam Burtz, Adam Burtz, Adam,
21:35
Speaker 1: I gotta say thank god you reminded Mark that earlier
21:40
Speaker 1: this morning, because we went and got the tickets for
21:43
Speaker 1: Monday's game, like less than an hour after the news
21:47
Speaker 1: broke that Connor was promoted to the Majors, So you
21:50
Speaker 1: saved me a lot of money. It really is a
21:56
Speaker 1: shout out to Adam. I hope you enjoyed the Bucko
21:58
Speaker 1: game on MONDAYE everyone enjoys the home opener for Josh
22:02
Speaker 1: Harrison in Platinum k Aka Mark. I'm Noah Hayle, signing
22:05
Speaker 1: off of another episode of Bucco Territory, presented to you
22:08
Speaker 1: by the Foul Territory Network