The Marlins promoted outfield prospect
Griffin Conine to Double-A Pensacola on Sunday.
The 24-year-old slugger leads all of minor league baseball with 23 home runs on the season, while slashing .247/.382/.587 with 59 RBI and a 103/46 K/BB ratio at High-A Beloit. Griffin, the son of Marlins legend Jeff Conine, was acquired from the Blue Jays in September to complete the Jonathan Villar trade.
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He is Mr. Marlin’s son, but
Griffin Conine is forging his own path in Marlins’ system
By Jordan McPherson
July 19, 2021 10:19 AM, Updated 8 minutes ago
Griffin Conine, son of Jeff Conine, is making his way through the Miami Marlins’ minor-league system as a power-hitting outfielder. “As far as pressure goes,” he said, “I just go out there and play.”
Griffin Conine, son of Jeff Conine, is making his way through the Miami Marlins’ minor-league system as a power-hitting outfielder. “As far as pressure goes,” he said, “I just go out there and play.” Brent Bartels Courtesy of Beloit Snappers
The play looked all too familiar, bringing some Marlins fans back to when it happened 18 years ago.
A fly ball drops into left field with two outs. A runner on second races around third base and makes his way home. The left fielder quickly corrals the ball, takes a couple steps and throws with all his might, falling forward in the process, to get the inning-ending out at home plate.
On July 9, 17 years and nine months later, it was Jeff’s son Griffin who made that run-saving throw as a member of the Marlins organization.
Like father, like son.
The stakes weren’t as high this time around. It happened in a regular-season game for the Marlins’ Class A Advanced affiliate Beloit Snappers against the South Bend Cubs.
But the nostalgia was there.
“It was really cool to see that link up,” Griffin Conine, who was 6 years old when his dad made the highlight throw all those years ago, said Saturday, a little more than a week after he replicated his dad’s play nearly stride for stride. “Similar footwork and throw. It was awesome.”
Equally awesome, in Griffin’s mind: Having the chance to potentially play for his hometown team, for the team his dad won two World Series rings with, the team he was around when his love for baseball began to flourish. It’s a chance that became possible a year ago when the Marlins acquired him from the Toronto Blue Jays at the trade deadline in exchange for Jonathan Villar.
But this much is also clear: Griffin Conine doesn’t plan to live in the shadow of his dad or put extra pressure on himself because of the last name on the back of his jersey. Right now, he doesn’t view himself as Mr. Marlin Jr. as he climbs through the Marlins’ minor-league system.
He’s Griffin Conine. Simple as that.
“It’s definitely cool to have that piece of history in my bloodlines,” the younger Conine said, “but as far as pressure goes, I just go out there and play. It’s kind of all you can do. I’m not not real big on social media because there’s just a lot of negativity out there. But yeah, I think most pressure is created in my own head, just on myself. It’s kind of just me versus me. As far as all that talk about Mr. Marlin Jr. and whatnot, if I earn that name for real eventually, then I’ll be happy about it. For now, I just go out and play.”
As of Monday, July 19, Griffin Conine has a minor league-leading 23 home runs to go along with 59 RBI and a .969 OPS. “I just want to put the barrel on the ball. That’s really what it is,” Conine said. Brent Bartels Courtesy of Beloit Snappers
A lot of home runs...
One of Conine’s biggest strengths is his power potential as a left-handed hitter.
That attribute has been on full display so far this season.
The 24-year-old slugger, ranked as the No. 17 prospect in the Marlins’ system by MLB Pipeline, has belted out a minors-leading 23 home runs over his first 66 games this season, all with Beloit, Wisconsin. He has also accrued 59 RBI along with a .587 slugging and .969 on-base-plus-slugging mark through his first 66 games this season.
Through 203 games since making his pro ball debut in 2018, Conine has 52 career home runs, 99 extra-base hits and 156 RBI.
“I just want to put the barrel on the ball. That’s really what it is,” Conine said. “I’m not gonna say I don’t love hitting homers. It’s awesome when that shows up in the game, but at the same time I’m happy if I’m barreling three, four balls a game. That’s my goal every time I step in the box is just put a good swing on it, be consistent as I can.
So no goals when it comes to a specific number of home runs this season?
“No goals there,” Conine said. “It’ll end up what it ends up at. Just gotta keep riding it.”
Griffin Conine, ranked as the No. 17 prospect in the Miami Marlins’ system by MLB Pipeline, has done most of his damage earlier in counts. 39 of his 58 hits and 18 of his 23 home runs this season have come before he gets into a two-strike count. Brent Bartels Courtesy of Beloit Snappers
... But a lot of strikeouts, too
While the home runs and the hard hits and the production are nice, there is one main area where Conine knows he needs to improve.
Conine has 103 strikeouts in 288 plate appearances this season — a 35.6 percent strikeout rate. His career strikeout rate is 33.5 percent.
“My strikeout numbers are super high,” Conine admitted, “and that’s something that I don’t want anyone to think that that’s something I’m OK with. That’s something I’m working on every day. I am.”
What exactly is Conine doing?
He’s trying to do more damage earlier in counts — 39 of his 58 hits and 18 of his 23 home runs this year have come before he gets into a two-strike count.
“Up and down the org, all they talk about is two-strike approach, two-strike hitting,” Conine said. “It’s hard once you get in a hole like that, though, because you see less strikes and pitchers know that you’re a guy that will chase and then you kind of just work yourself into a hole by getting less pitches to hit. It becomes harder on you, but also you know I created that for myself. It’s just every day coming in and working on changing speeds working on hitting offspeed [pitches] better and doing whatever I can to to be better in those counts, but it’s been a grind for sure.”
Griffin Conine has heeded the advice of his dad, 12-year MLB veteran Jeff Conine, and prioritized having a set pregame routine as he makes his way through the minor leagues. Brent Bartels Courtesy of Beloit Snappers
‘It’s the same game’
As Conine makes his way through the minor-league ranks and gets closer to making a hopeful MLB debut, he’s leaning on a few key phrases and pieces of advice that his dad, a 12-year MLB veteran, has passed on to him.
“He always talks about just keeping the game simple, as simple as you can,” Conine said, “especially more specifically as you rise through the minor-league ranks. Every rank gets harder and harder. The game speeds up slightly and that’s the purpose of all the levels in the minors, but he’s just like he always preaches it’s the same game.
“It’s a different scenery, obviously a different difficulty, but between the lines, it’s all the same.”
Having a set routine helps.
Pregame shower after batting practice. Pregame meal about two-and-a-half hours before first pitch. A workout shake about an hour after that. Listen to music to get pumped up (Conine’s playlist features a lot of rap this year, specifically Lil Baby and J. Cole). Then it’s 20 minutes or so in the cage for a few final swings before getting to the field about a half hour before first pitch.
“It’s down to a science at this point,” Conine said. “Pretty much everything is at the same exact time.”
The hope, the goal, is that it helps on his path to the big leagues.
“Baseball is kind of my life,” Conine said. “That’s the main goal with everything.”
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