The LSU Baseball team has a fascinating scenario on hand with one of their signees
The LSU Baseball program pulled off some shocking moves prior to and during the MLB Draft luring top draft prospects to LSU rather than the MLB. Jay Johnson was able to get projected first-round pick William Schmidt to withdraw from the draft as well as projected day-two picks Derek Curiel and Cade Arrambide.
The Tigers had three of their signees drafted early as Konnor Griffin went ninth overall, Cam Caminiti went 24th overall, and Boston Bateman went 52nd overall. Bateman and Caminiti have already signed their contracts however, the Pirates have shockingly struggled to sign Griffin.
With the 9th overall pick, the Pittsburgh Pirates have selected SS/RHP Konnor Griffin. As tooled out a player as you will find in this year’s class. The ceiling here is incredibly high. 5-tool upside. I actually like him a lot on the mound… Toolshed! pic.twitter.com/TK78kmwhH0
— Peter Flaherty III (@PeterGFlaherty) July 14, 2024
The MLB's deadline to sign draft picks is on Thursday at 4 PM Central time. If the Pirates and Griffin fail to strike a deal by this deadline, Griffin has few options as he can either attend LSU or play elsewhere and re-enter the MLB Draft the following year. The most recent example of this is when the Mets selected Vanderbilt pitcher Kumar Rocker but, couldn't strike a deal leading Rocker to sign in the Frontier League.
The most likely scenario is that the Pirates will have to pay Griffin more than his slot value to get this deal across the finish line but, that's certainly not a given. The other hangup could be a concern about medicals but, that information would have been made public by now like the Rocker situation was.
Perfect time for the LSU NIL program to swoop in
The LSU athletic program could make this real interesting by offering a massive deal to get Griffin on campus. Landing Griffin would set this LSU Baseball program up incredibly for the years to come with a foundation of Griffin, Schmidt, Curiel, and Arrambide for at least the next three seasons alongside Johnson's other signees.