SBLive's 2023 North Coast Section Baseball Player of the Year: De La Salle's Tanner Griffith
Tanner Griffith could have taken the conventional route. He could have gone to Livermore High School with his many friends. Been welcomed heartily into the baseball program to play his natural position of second base.
Instead, Griffith took the more challenging path, a daily 35-mile jaunt from Alameda to Contra Costa county, across the Tri-Valleys to the highly competitive land of De La Salle.
There, he knew almost no one — and more daring — few knew about him, his competitive nature, quiet confidence, keen speed and athleticism. He had attended private school in Livermore — Our Savior Lutheran School — but this would be a major adjustment to be sure. And he knew it.
Especially when he was immediately adjusted to the outfield.
“It was kind of crazy going to a new school and dealing with all the social adjustments and playing a new position,” Griffith said. “But from the beginning it felt right. I loved the culture. I like challenges in my life and being able to overcome them."
Boy did he overcome.
SBLive Sports' 2023 North Coast Section Player of the Year Connor Griffith. Photo: Mitch Stephens
A team leader, the second-year starting varsity right fielder led Northern California's top program in batting average (.435), on-base percentage (.557), runs (41), hits (40), doubles (14) and home runs (four) as the Spartans won their sixth straight North Coast Section and second consecutive Northern California Division I championship.
For it, the St. Mary's College-bound standout was named the 2023 North Coast Section Player of the Year by SBLive Sports. Earlier this month, he was chosen as the San Francisco Chronicle's Player of the Year, a region covering across four sections.
Not bad for a kid who entered De La Salle a mere 5 feet, 1 inches tall and barely 100 pounds. He left it a solid 5-9 and 165 with a college baseball scholarship in hand.
“He definitely didn’t pass the eye test,” said De La Salle coach David Jeans, who just finished his 12th season. “He wasn’t someone you looked at and said, ‘oh he’s a major D1 guy.’ “
Utilizing elite speed, he played a flawless right field, just as he did as a junior highlighted by making one of the great catches in Jeans’ tenure during a 7-6 comeback win over St. Francis in the 2022 NorCal D1 title game.
Griffith's spectacular catch in the 2022 NorCal Division 1 title game against St. Francis. Photo: Dennis Lee.
The catch even shocked Griffith somewhat. Photo: Dennis Lee
De La Salle came back from a three-run deficit in the final inning to win that one in a walk-off. Earlier this month, the Spartans did the same, but on the road, scoring six runs in the seventh, capped by a grand slam by Hank Tripaldi, to win 11-8 at Valley Christian.
Griffith reached four times in that game and scored twice, capping a highly productive postseason that saw him reach base 20 of 30 plate appearances with 14 runs, 10 RBI, three doubles and a homer in seven straight wins. It extended De La Salle’s remarkable postseason win streak since 2016 to 30 games.
“He’s just a winner,” Jeans said. “He’s one of those guys who just finds a way to win. He takes a walk, hits for power, makes a throw, makes a spectacular catch. He came in not as a big-time guy, but he kept grinding and got better and better and better. You want a Tanner Griffith on your team.”
His idols growing up were diminutive middle infielders — Jose Altuve and Francisco Lindor — but accepted the challenge of a position change, along with all the other social adjustments coming from a different community.
Support from his dad Steve, a former baseball player at San Lorenzo High, and his mom Donna, a former cheerleader at San Lorenzo, proved vital during the transition. His dad reminded him to “always play with a chip on my shoulder, and try to work twice as hard as everyone else.”
It all paid off, starting for a team that has been nationally ranked and won 54 games combined the last two seasons, ending each with improbable late wins. “It’s been surreal,” Griffith said. “They were both like college games, so loud and filled with so many twists and emotions. Going out as a two-time NorCal champion with such great teammates and coaches is something I’ll never forget.”
The speedy Griffith also stole 14 bases as a senior. Photo: Dennis Lee
Jeans thinks the left-hand hitting Griffith (he throws right) will excel at the next level based on what he’s seen against elite high school talent. “About 70 percent of the guys we face are major D1 guys and he’s never over-matched,” he said. “He really controls the zone. He doesn’t chase and if the ball is in the zone, he hammers it.”
Besides showing that in games over the last two years, he also demonstrated it on Saturdays, when Griffith and the rest of the Spartans — including other All-NCS standouts Connor Harrison, Tripaldi, RJ Meyn and Kai Smith — all improved enormously during inner-squad games.
Jeans carries extremely large rosters — up to 40 players — and that's where De La Salle's growth, competitive edge and camaraderie all grew, Griffith said.
"I think it's definitely a reason why we we got better and I got better playing in those scrimmages," Griffith said. "We have so many good pitchers and I got to see all those new arms. Sometimes we'd have 17 pitchers going throughout the day. That's way better than playing in a regular game against one or two guys.
"I think that's a built-in advantage for us as a team. Those inner-squad games were heated. They'd get a little chippy, I won't lie. We'd go into every game against other teams with our 40 guys versus their 20. That definitely felt like an advantage."
Griffith topped off his fantastic senior year with a rather remarkable postseason, reaching 20 of 30 plate appearances en route to seven straight wins. Photo: Courtesy of the Griffith family.
