FanGraphs Weekly Mailbag: April 4, 2026
It took all of a week for the Pirates to call up shortstop Konnor Griffin, the top prospect in all of baseball, to make his debut in their home opener Friday afternoon. Batting seventh, Griffin went 1-for-3 with a walk in Pittsburgh’s 5-4 win over the Orioles, with the highlight coming in the second inning. He stepped in with a runner on second and one out against Baltimore right-hander Kyle Bradish. The first pitch was a slider well off the plate that Griffin chased and missed. He took the next pitch, a slider even farther away, for a ball, whiffed at yet another slider low and away for strike two, and barely got a piece of a fourth-straight slider outside the zone to stay alive. Then, finally, he got a pitch to hit, a curveball on the black away. He scorched it into the left-center gap for a double to drive in the first Pirates run of the game. Two pitches later, he showed off his 70-grade speed, blazing around third to score on a single to shallow right field.
If you’re reading this Members only mailbag, you almost certainly know all about Griffin and his tantalizing, franchise-altering potential. Our prospect team described him as a “freaky five-tool player” when they ranked him no. 1 on our preseason Top 100 list and assigned him a 70 FV. He doesn’t turn 20 until the end of this month and immediately raises the floor of this Pirates team significantly, even if he struggles some out of the gate. Michael Baumann wrote about Griffin on Thursday afternoon, and I’d encourage you to read it if you want to learn more about what Griffin brings to the Pirates and why, after just five games at Triple-A, they decided it was the right time for his big league career to begin.
That’s the last you’ll read about Griffin’s debut in this week’s mailbag. Instead, we’ll answer yours questions on the World Series teams with the most and least WAR on their rosters at the time of their Fall Classic, the dropped third strike rule, and players with the same name. But first, I’d like to remind you that this mailbag is exclusive to FanGraphs Members. If you aren’t yet a Member and would like to keep reading, you can sign up for a Membership here. It’s the best way to both experience the site and support our staff, and it comes with a bunch of other great benefits. Also, if you’d like to ask a question for an upcoming mailbag, send me an email at mailbag@fangraphs.com.
Matt is the associate editor of FanGraphs. Previously, he was the baseball editor at Sports Illustrated. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Men’s Health, Baseball Prospectus, and Lindy’s Sports Magazine. Follow him on Twitter @ByMattMartell and Blue Sky @mattmartell.bsky.social.
As implied in the text of the answer, I would bet the total WAR of a World Series roster correlates very well with the age of the roster.
Michael Keaton recently said he plucked “Keaton” out of the phone book, and wasn’t naming himself after Diane Keaton, which was also not her original name; she was Diane Hall (as in Annie Hall) and Keaton was her mother’s maiden name. There were two prior Michael Douglases: the “real” one from Wall Street, etc., who really was named Michael Douglas, and a talk show host named Mike Douglas…who wasn’t named Michael Douglas, he was Michael Dowd.
I remember reading he was inspired by Buster Keaton.
I checked Wiki and he told the phone book story on Colbert, claiming not to be a tribute to Buster or Diane. At least Buster really was named Keaton!
This one is pretty well know by now, but:
Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez are both the children of Martin Sheen. From that, you might assume that Estevez changed his name, but they’re actually all named Estevez.
Don’t forget about Joe “Mr. Money” Estevez
Not to be confused with Sheen Estevez, character from the hit early aughts cartoon Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Fun mailbag questions today!
I definitely remember the 1983 Phillies being referred to as the Wheeze Kids in reference to some advanced ages on the roster. Wonder where the 1967 Sox ranked as a young team.
As someone proud of being named after their father, I would protest at having to change my name should we both have made it big time.
That being said I see the other side of the argument, and not only due to the agony of clicking in the wrong Tony Armas ….again in Immaculate Grid!
Weeeelllllll…….one of my OttoNeu Spring FA auctions was halted and incurred a lot of discussion when accidentally the wrong Juan Soto was nominated and bid up into the 30’s before it was noticed.
I once worked at a company where there was a Robin F, who worked mornings. A Robin U, who worked afternoons and a Robin C, who worked evenings. I asked when we were hiring Robin K for the overnight.
On one of my last medical school rotations there were three medical students, all named Mike. When the residents needed something they would say “Mike, could you…” and assume someone would take care of it.
I was one of five Jason’s in my second grade class – it was around then that I started going by my last name. I had to relearn answering to “Jason” when I joined the working world after college.
“oh….me?! You got it boss.”
I was 10 years old at the time but I used to think that Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium was named because of all the freaking old guys they had on the team.
So now that Konnor Griffin has been called up already. What are the chances Jesus Made gets the call this season? I have an NA slot in a league but don’t want to waste it on Made if there’s like 0% chance he gets used this year.
Really hard to tell. If he is dominating the minors and Milwaukee has underperforming infielders he could get called up mid season.
If neither of those things happen he’s probably up late in the season if the playoff are either locked up or if they’re completely out of contention.
I personally wouldn’t keep him if you’re worried about the slot but I always used to hold top prospects I really believe in in fantasy.
For the record, SAG AFTRA no longer “forces” a member to change their own name aa long as they sign a waiver. For example, if my birth name is Max Muncy (or Brady Feigl), they can’t “make” me use something else if one is already registered, as long as I sign something acknowledging the other person can also use the name. But I can’t make up the name Max Muncy.
Maybe not the *most* impactful dropped third strike, but my mind immediately went to John Means’ 2019 no-hitter. The only no-hitter to have 0 walks, 0 hit-by-pitch, 0 catcher interference, and 0 reached-on-error. The only baserunner Means allowed was the result of a Pedro Severino dropped third strike. The batter was almost immediately then thrown out trying to steal second enabling Means to face the minimum 27 batters in the game.
Isn’t a dropped third strike an error on the catcher?