Pirates Share Konnor Griffin Timeline - And It's Close
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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates have missed Konnor Griffin for the majority of this season, but it looks like he's on track for a comeback soon.
Griffin is already down in Florida for his rehab for his left ring sagittal band injury, out of the splint, and has been making progress since getting his fingers out of the splint he was wearing for six weeks.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said on The Pirates Insider Show on 93.7 The Fan that they see Griffin making a return in the early part of September and playing in the major leagues once again.
“He’s tracking that way," Cherington said. "He’s swinging, he’s responded really well to swinging. Been no hiccups since he kind of got the brace off and got cleared to begin that progression. So we just got to build that up that now and get him ready for games.
"We still anticipate that, barring something unforeseen, by sometime later this month, early September. We don’t have an exact timeline, date yet, but we’re still confident and we believe there’s confidence we’re gonna see him in major league games in the first part of September sometime.”
Griffin Missing Extended Time With Second Injury
The Pirates haven't had Griffin play for them since a 12-4 win over the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 5.
Griffin suffered his injury on a random diving play, which is known more as a boxer's knuckle, as it can come from punching someone, but not often in a sport like baseball.
The injury for Griffin has his extensor tendon damaged, essentially "slipping" off his knuckle, which is problematic for how the hand moves.
Griffin could've played through it, but the Pirates were going to do what they could to make sure he didn't do so, as further damage could've done irreparable damage to his hand and impacted his play for the future.
They put his two fingers in the splints for six weeks, before taking it off on Aug. 17 and he transitioned to medical tape and started gripping exercises and putting his hand in the glove.
Griffin went down to Florida ahead of this most recent road trip for the Pirates, along with first baseman/right fielder Ryan O'Hearn, specifically Bradenton, where they have their Spring Training facility.
The Pirates expected him to begin his swinging progression this weekend, so Griffin doing so keeps him on track for a regular return.
Griffin can't come off the 60-day injured list until Sept. 4, which would happen on the next homestand or the Pirates.
This recent news from Cherington shows he's on track for that, perhaps not that exact date, but playing games again for the Pirates in early September.
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Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.