During his two seasons at LSU, Griffin Herring was a crucial piece for Jay Johnson and the LSU Baseball team. During his Freshman season, Herring cemented his legacy at LSU pitching 4.2 scoreless innings of relief against Wake Forest in the College World Series to give LSU a crucial win. As a Sophomore, Herring cemented himself as one of the best relief pitchers in the Country with a 1.79 ERA across 50.1 Innings pitched deciding to leave school to enter the MLB Draft.
When the New York Yankees selected Griffin Herring in the 6th round of the 2024 MLB Draft it seemed like the perfect move for a team with one of the best pitching staffs led by Matt Blake. Thus far all Griffin Herring has done is dominate his opponents with a promotion likely on its way.
This season for the Tampa Tarpons the Single-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, Griffin Herring is having one of the most dominant starts to a career. Thus far, Herring has made 5 starts with a 3-1 record, a 0.60 ERA, 39 strikeouts, and has allowed just 2 earned runs across 30.0 innings.
While his regular counting stats are absurd, some of his advanced stats truly speak to how dominant Griffin Herring has been in the Minor Leagues. Herring has a 32.8% strikeout percentage and just an 8.4% walk percentage on the year. The Tarpons lost Herring's latest start where he went 6.2 innings allowing 5 hits and 1 run while striking out 11. In the losing effort, Herring recorded 26 whiffs which is the most ever since the stat began being tracked in Single-A in 2021.
The next step for Griffin Herring should come rather soon with a promotion to AA as he's dominating Single-A. Based on all of the metrics and how quickly he's dominated in his move to being a starting pitcher, Herring could be a player who rises through the ranks quickly if he continues to develop at the pace he has thus far.