LA CROSSE, WI – Griffin Conine, a key member of the 2016 La Crosse Loggers club, become the 31st former Logger to make his Major League debut on Monday night, August 26 when he pinch-hit for the same team that his dad, Jeff, played for – the Miami Marlins.

Following his freshman season at Duke in 2016, Conine broke onto the scene in a big way that summer dawning the Logger pinstripes when he led the Lumbermen in home runs with 16 while hitting .286 and driving in a team-best 47 runs over 58 games played.

After the big summer in La Crosse, Conine continued his slugging ways back at Duke.  As a sophomore in 2017, the left-handed hitting outfielder clubbed 13 home runs that spring and then followed that up by hitting 18 more long balls during his junior campaign in 2018.

The Toronto Blue Jays took a liking to Conine following his junior season at Duke and selected him in the 2nd round of the 2018 MLB first year draft.  After spending three seasons in the Blue Jays farm system, Conine was traded to the Marlins in September of 2020 and in 2021, he clubbed 36 home runs  between High-A Beloit and Double-A Pensacola, the second most in all of MILB.

This season, Conine has spent most of his time at Triple-A Jacksonville where the 27-year-old posted a slash line of .268/.350/.475 and hit 19 homers. In the Marlins Spring breakout, Conine went deep in front of his dad, who serves as a special adviser to Marlins principal owner Bruce Sherman.  With his dad, Jeff, affectionately known as “Mr. Marlin” that made the “Call Up” a little extra special.

In being elevated to the big leagues, Conine also represents the fourth member off of that 2016 Loggers team to make it all the way to the show joining Lars Nootbaar (St. Louis), Cesar Salazar (Houston) and Mason McCoy (San Diego).