Zane Griffaton leads West Mifflin in so many statistical categories that it’s easier to just list the ones in which he doesn’t.
“He doesn’t lead us in triples. He’s got to get better at hitting triples,” West Mifflin coach Jeff Kuzma said tongue-in-cheek.
All joking aside, though, Griffaton is having one of the best seasons of any player in the WPIAL this season. And after helping West Mifflin clinch a section title for the fourth consecutive year Tuesday, the senior and four-year starter hopes to use his hitting and pitching talents to lead the Titans to a second WPIAL title in three years.
“It would mean a lot to me, especially knowing that no other West Mifflin team has won twice. Even being a part of one meant so much,” said Griffaton, whose Titans won their first WPIAL title in 2022.
Griffaton, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound pitcher-utility player, has been a mainstay — and a star — in West Mifflin’s lineup since the first game of his freshman season. He boasts a career batting average of .381 and a career ERA of 1.17. But even more than that, Griffaton has been a winner, as the Titans have gone 62-14 overall and 40-4 in section play in his four seasons.
“Zane Griffaton will go down as one of the best baseball players in West Mifflin history, at least during coach Kuzma’s run,” said Kuzma, who became head coach in 2001, one year after Mike Kosko guided the Titans to their first-ever playoff win.
Coincidentally, Kosko’s son, Luke, is one of the top players for Thomas Jefferson, which split the Class 4A Section 3 title with West Mifflin this season. West Mifflin (15-2, 9-1) has dropped only one game to a WPIAL opponent, and that was at home against Thomas Jefferson last Tuesday. A day earlier in Game 1 of the series, Griffaton helped West Mifflin to an 8-5 road win as he homered, knocked in four runs, and was the winning pitcher after giving up just one run and striking out seven over 4⅓ innings.
Griffaton was even better on the mound in his latest outing, as he allowed one unearned run and three hits while striking out a career-high 11 over five innings in a 3-1 win at Chartiers Valley. He also had two hits and scored a run.
“I’ve had four years of Zane, and Zane was Zane today,” Kuzma said following the win. “And what I mean by that is, when he’s on he’s on, and that’s been most of this season.”
Griffaton, a right-hander and the team’s No. 1 starter, dealt with some adversity last year after suffering a torn labrum early in the season. He was still able to bat and even pitch, but his innings were limited. He made just six pitching appearances and threw only 14⅓ innings, yet still fanned 21 and walked just six. As he got back to 100% in the offseason, Griffaton said he worked heavily on sharpening his mechanics as he trained three to four days a week at Performance Velocity Systems (PVS), a popular local training facility.
This season, Griffaton has been better than ever. He’s 4-0 and has allowed just three runs (two earned) and 13 hits in 21⅓ innings while striking out 40 and walking seven. All four wins have come in section play, where he has allowed two runs (one earned) and three walks to go along with 32 strikeouts over 16⅓ innings.
“He’s become more consistent throwing fastballs in the zone,” Kuzma said. “He’s got a little bit better of an understanding now of how to set up hitters. And he’s very good with his fastball. That’s the key to his success.”
Offensively, Griffaton, one of four seniors on the team, has been hitting the ball hard and smacking it all over the field. As the leadoff hitter, Griffaton has batted .476 with 5 home runs, 6 doubles, 16 RBIs, 18 runs and 11 stolen bases, all marks that lead the team. The five homers rank him among the WPIAL leaders and match his career total coming into the season. He has seven multi-hit games and has been held without a hit only twice. He doesn’t, however, have any triples, while senior catcher Corey Kuszaj has a team-high two.
“I’ve had just one small adjustment, and that’s just being relaxed when I’m ready to hit,” he said. “And just having more experience and confidence, knowing that I have the ability to do this.”
The biggest adjustment Griffaton has had to make this spring has to do with where he plays when he doesn’t pitch. In the past, Griffaton was an outfielder, but this season he has played a multitude of positions — first base, third base, shortstop and outfield — due to the Titans breaking in a lot of younger players, many of whom are a part of a talented and deep sophomore class.
“It’s a huge asset to have a guy like that on the team, this year more than ever,” said Kuzma, whose squad earned the No. 3 seed in last year’s WPIAL playoffs before being upset by eventual champion Hopewell in the first round. “When you’ve got a kid with that much athleticism, it’s pretty easy to put him anywhere to fill holes. And we had to take what I think is the best outfielder in the WPIAL and move him to infield to fill some holes.”
Next season, Griffaton will go from wearing blue and gold to being a Big Blue when he begins his college career at Bluefield State, a Division II school located in West Virginia. Griffaton was recruited to be a two-way player and said he plans on majoring in business.
But before then, Griffaton hopes to close out his high school career with a WPIAL title and maybe even more.
And who knows, maybe he’ll even take the team lead in triples along the way.
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.