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Foster Griffin

Nationals Sign Foster Griffin

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December 22nd: The Nats announced the Griffin signing today.

December 16th: The Nationals are going to sign left-hander Foster Griffin, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. It’ll be a one-year, $5.5MM contract with another $1MM in incentives for the Excel Sports Management client. The Nats have 40-man vacancies and won’t need to make a corresponding move.

Foster GriffinGriffin, now 30, got some brief major league action a few years ago. He made seven appearances, split between the Royals and Blue Jays, over the 2020 and 2022 seasons. He has spent the past three years in Japan, pitching for the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball, with great success.

He tossed 315 2/3 innings over those three campaigns, allowing 2.57 earned runs per nine. He struck out 25.1% of batters faced, only gave out walks to 5.1% of opponents and kept about half of balls in play on the ground. In 2025, a leg injury limited him to just 78 innings but it was his best season in terms of run prevention. He posted a 1.62 ERA with a 25.1% strikeout rate, 5.9% walk rate and 48.9% grounder rate.

Despite the solid numbers, there are some questions about whether how his stuff will translate to North American ball. Griffin’s fastball only sits in the low 90s, fairly soft by modern standards. He succeeds with a deep arsenal which also includes a slider, cutter, changeup, splitter, curveball and two-seamer.

It has been a relatively busy winter in terms of guys returning to North America after stints overseas. Cody Ponce got $30MM over three years from the Blue Jays. The White Sox gave Anthony Kay $12MM over two years. Drew Anderson got one year and $7MM from the Tigers and Ryan Weiss got one year and $2.6MM from the Astros. All pitchers have had some success in Japan or South Korea but the price differences are likely down to the stuff. Ponce is 6’6″ and 255 pounds with a fastball that averages in the upper 90s with a splitter/kick change that is considered a plus pitch. Griffin isn’t tiny, as he’s listed at 6’3″ and 225 lbs., but his crafty, soft-tossing lefty profile is obviously different than that of Ponce.

It’s still an intriguing package. Recent reporting indicated teams were showing interest in Griffin and that he was putting a priority on an opportunity to prove himself in a rotation. Washington is a good landing spot for him in that regard.

The Nats have been rebuilding for years but have struggled to return to contention. The slow progress prompted major changes, as the club has overhauled almost the entire front office and coaching staff in the past few months. It’s expected that the new regime, led by president of baseball operations Paul Toboni, will be focused on long-term goals. They are one of the clubs best suited to take a chance on an unproven arm like Griffin.

As of right now, the Washington rotation consists of guys like MacKenzie Gore, Cade Cavalli, Josiah Gray, Brad Lord, Griff McGarry, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker and others. Gore is just two years away from free agency and is widely expected to be traded this offseason. Cavalli and Gray haven’t pitched much in recent years due to Tommy John surgery. Lord had decent results as a swingman in 2025. McGarry is a Rule 5 pick with no major league experience yet. Irvin and Parker have each logged over 300 big league innings but they each posted an ERA near 6.00 this year.

In short, there’s very little locked into place in the Washington rotation, meaning Griffin should have a shot to hold down a spot. If he succeeds for the first few months of the season, he will likely end up on the trade block, allowing the Nats to potentially bring back more young talent for their rebuild. If it doesn’t work out, it’s a fairly modest bet from the team’s perspective, though it’s a huge amount of money for Griffin himself.

Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Raj Mehta, Imagn Images

Foster Griffin Receiving Major League Offers

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Left-hander Foster Griffin has been eyeing a return to the majors after a strong three-year run in Japan. He’s received at least one multi-year offer, per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi.

The 30-year-old Griffin was a first-round pick, 28th overall, by the Royals back in 2014. He pitched in parts of two big league seasons between Kansas City and Toronto but totaled only eight innings. Griffin pitched well in the minors in 2021-22 and parlayed that into interest overseas, signing a one-year deal with the Yomiuri Giants.

Griffin re-signed with the Giants after a big first season and wound up spending three years in their rotation. He pitched to a sharp 2.57 ERA in 315 2/3 frames and fanned 25.1% of his opponents against a tidy 5.5% walk rate. Griffin still doesn’t throw particularly hard, sitting in the low 90s with his fastball, but he works with a deep arsenal. He primarily relies on a four-seamer, slider, cutter and changeup (in that order) but also mixes in a splitter, curve and two-seamer on occasion.

Griffin was on his way to another strong set of results in 2025 when he suffered a leg injury over the summer. He wound up pitching in only 14 games but totaled a terrific 1.62 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate in 78 innings. (Griffin also tossed 11 minor league innings, bringing him to 89 on the season overall.) He’s healthy now and going through a normal offseason progression.

Sources told MLBTR that Griffin has spoken to around eight teams with varying levels of interest. His priority in free agency will be latching on with a club that has clear rotation openings and a path to seize a starting job next season. It’s an understandable approach for a pitcher entering his age-30 season. A one- or two-year deal would put him back on the market ahead of his age-31 or age-32 season. That’s still young enough to command a more notable free agent deal if he can spend the next year or two proving himself as a credible big league starter by incorporating some of the changes he’s picked up overseas.

Teams in need of top-of-the-rotation upgrades aren’t going to look at Griffin’s NPB work and think it can transfer over. But the 6’3″, 225-pound lefty ought to be a relatively low-cost option for a club looking to plug some stable innings with a tinge of upside into the back of its rotation.

Griffin doesn’t have the premium velocity and whiff rate of Cody Ponce, who signed a $30MM deal with the Blue Jays in free agency earlier this winter, but we’ve still seen some solid paydays for pitchers returning to North America in recent years. Drew Anderson ($7MM) and Ryan Weiss ($2.6MM) both signed one-year, major league contracts coming back from Asia this winter. Left-hander Anthony Kay signed for two years and $12MM with the White Sox last week. Bringing starters back over from Nippon Professional Baseball and the Korea Baseball Organization is an increasingly popular way for teams to seek budget innings at the back of the rotation, which should bode well for Griffin on the back of a trio of nice seasons.

Foster Griffin Looking To Return To MLB In Free Agency

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Left-hander Foster Griffin’s Major League resume consists of seven games and eight innings of 6.75 ERA ball with the Royals and Blue Jays during the 2020 and 2022 seasons.  Looking for a change of scenery, Griffin signed with the Yomiuri Giants prior to the 2023 season, and the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports that the 30-year-old southpaw is now looking to return to North American baseball after three successful years in Japan.

While Griffin hadn’t shown much in his few cups of coffee in the majors, he posted a 2.10 ERA, 27.1% strikeout rate, and 7.1% walk rate over 51 1/3 relief innings with the Royals’ and Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliates in 2022.  Griffin had started almost all of his pro games prior to the 2022 campaign, but the move to full-time bullpen work seemed to unlock something for Griffin after some inconsistent results as a starter.

Injuries also played a role in Griffin’s career. Griffin’s tore his UCL in his very first big league game in 2020, resulting in a Tommy John procedure and a long stint on the shelf.  His good numbers in 2022 seemed to indicate that he’d covered well from his surgery, but his decision to head overseas may have been inspired by a desire to get another crack at starting.

The decision to bet on himself looks to have paid off.  Griffin had a 2.57 ERA, 25.07% strikeout rate, and 5.52% walk rate across 315 2/3 innings and 54 games with the Giants.  His debut year in 2023 was so impressive that the Giants inked him to a two-year extension, which is notable since foreign-born players in NPB are usually given just one-year deals.  Griffin’s work helped the Giants reach the postseason in each of the last two NPB seasons.

FanSided’s Robert Murray mentioned back in July that MLB teams had taken notice of Griffin’s numbers in Japan, so with his contract with the Giants now completed, it isn’t surprising that Griffin is aiming to get back to the bigs.  Merrill Kelly or Erick Fedde are among the recent example of pitchers who reinvented themselves in foreign leagues and returned to land multi-year free agent commitments, and the same could be true for Griffin despite his thin track record in the Show.  Teams are forever looking to add starting pitching, and Griffin is an interesting lower-cost option for any club in need of rotation help.

Yomiuri Giants Showing Interest In Tyler Beede

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The Yomiuri Giants of the Nippon Professional Baseball league are showing interest in adding right-handed pitcher Tyler Beede for the upcoming season, according to Hochi News (h/t Sung Min Kim). Beede was released by the Pirates last month after spending the 2022 campaign with them and San Francisco.

Beede, 29, was drafted 14th overall by the Giants back in 2014, but never managed to live up to the first round pedigree over four years in the big leagues. Across 187 innings between the Giants and Pirates, Beede pitched to a 5.34 ERA, averaging a 19.1% strikeout rate and a 9.7% walk rate. Most of those innings were logged in the 2019 season, when Beede pitched 117 innings of 5.08 ERA ball largely out of the Giants’ rotation.

Tommy John surgery ruled him out of the shortened 2020 season, and a significant chunk of the 2021 campaign as well. The Giants cut ties with him after a handful of relief appearances this year, and he was picked up by the rebuilding Pirates. The change of scenery didn’t bring about a change of results though, as Beede worked to a 5.23 ERA in 51 2/3 innings. He also saw his strikeout rate drop to 14.8% while putting up a 9.7% walk rate.

Pittsburgh designated Beede for assignment towards the end of the season and he became a free agent in October.

The report also adds that Yomiuri are looking to sign former Royals and Blue Jays pitcher Foster Griffin as well as Beede. Griffin was also drafted in the first round in 2014 (28th by the Royals) has made just a handful of appearances across two years in the big leagues, tossing eight innings of 6.75 ERA ball for the Royals and Blue Jays. The left-hander was much better at Triple-A, where he worked to a 2.10 ERA across 51 1/3 innings of relief work.

Blue Jays Designate Raimel Tapia, Bradley Zimmer For Assignment

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The Blue Jays have designated outfielders Bradley Zimmer and Raimel Tapia for assignment. Toronto also released left-hander Foster Griffin. In corresponding moves, the Jays selected the contracts of righty Yosver Zulueta and infielders Addison Barger, Spencer Horwitz and Orelvis Martinez.

Tapia landed in Toronto in the Spring Training deal that sent Randal Grichuk to the Rockies. The hope was to more adequately balance an outfield that skewed right-handed with a lefty-swinging contact bat, but Tapia didn’t have a great year. In 433 plate appearances, he hit .265/.292/.380 with seven home runs. He demonstrated his customarily solid bat-to-ball skills, but he rarely walked or hit for much power.

The 28-year-old was eligible for arbitration for a final time this winter, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a notable $5.2MM salary. That always looked likelier than the Jays were hoping to pay for a fourth/fifth outfield type, and today’s designation functions as akin to a non-tender. Toronto can technically trade Tapia in the next few days, but it looks likelier he’ll go unclaimed on waivers and be sent to the open market.

Zimmer also worked as a left-handed bench bat in the outfield. He got into 109 games between Toronto and Philadelphia but only picked up 117 plate appearances. He’s a solid defensive outfielder but has always been very strikeout-prone in the big leagues. That included a 38.5% strikeout rate this season, which featured just a .124/.207/.229 overall mark.

The 29-year-old (30 later this month) had been projected for a $1.3MM arbitration salary. As with Tapia, he’s effectively being non-tendered a few days in advance to clear the 40-man roster spot.

Griffin made just one two-inning relief appearance for the Jays after being acquired from the Royals midseason. The former first-round pick of Kansas City spent much of his tenure with Triple-A Buffalo, working 23 1/3 innings out of the bullpen there. He posted a 2.31 ERA with a solid 24.8% strikeout rate as a Bison.

Turning to the players joining the roster, Martinez and Zulueta were two of the easier calls to keep out of the Rule 5 draft around the league. The former was a high-profile signee out of the Dominican Republic during the 2018-19 international period. He’s appeared among Baseball America’s top 100 overall prospects in each of the past two years, garnering praise for his big power potential. He spent the entire 2022 campaign at Double-A New Hampshire as a 20-year-old but stumbled to a .203/.286/.446 line — albeit with a 30-homer showing that demonstrated his power upside.

Zulueta had a breakout year that saw him traverse four minor league levels. A native of Cuba, he combined for a 3.72 ERA with a huge 33.9% strikeout rate while topping out at Triple-A. Baseball America slotted him fifth in the Toronto organization midseason, praising his four-pitch mix. Zulueta, 25 in January, figures to start next season in Buffalo but could play his way onto the big league roster at some point during the year.

Barger, 23, was a sixth-round selection in the 2018 draft out of a Florida high school. He’s played all around the infield and performed at three minor league levels this year. The left-handed hitter combined for a .308/.378/.555 showing in 526 plate appearances, albeit with higher than average strikeout totals. BA ranked him 18th in the Jays’ system midseason.

Horwitz, 25, went in the 24th round of the 2019 draft out of Radford. He’s outperformed that modest draft stock and now sits on the brink of the majors after combining for a .275/.391/.452 mark in 483 plate appearances at the minors top two levels. He’s primarily a first baseman, putting plenty of pressure on his bat. According to Baseball America, he’s the #13 prospect in the organization.

Blue Jays Acquire Foster Griffin From Royals For Jonatan Bernal

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The Blue Jays and Royals have agreed to a trade this morning, per Jon Morosi of the MLB Network (via Twitter). Toronto will send right-hander Jonatan Bernal to the Royals for southpaw Foster Griffin.

The Blue Jays have sent Griffin to Triple-A. The southpaw made five appearances in the bigs with the Royals, yielding six earned runs across 4 1/3 innings. He has a 1.93 ERA across 28 innings in Triple-A, however.

The Blue Jays also recalled Jeremy Beasley from Triple-A and designated veteran Sergio Romo for assignment, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com (via Twitter). The 39-year-old Romo made six appearances with the Jays after being cut loose by the Mariners. He fared better in Toronto, though the underlying metrics tell a fairly similar tale. Beasley, 26, has made six appearances for the Bue Jays totaling 10 innings of work with a 6.30 ERA.

For the Royals, this is a sort of paying-it-forward deal, where they pick up a younger arm in Bernal in exchange for a near-ML-ready arm in Griffin. Bernal, 20, has a 5.47 ERA across 52 2/3 innings in Single-A this season, where he is a couple of years younger than the average player.

Royals Designate Foster Griffin For Assignment

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The Royals announced Monday that lefty Foster Griffin has been designated for assignment. His spot on the active roster will go to lefty Daniel Lynch, who has been reinstated from the injured list. Griffin’s spot on the 40-man roster will go to newly acquired outfield prospect Drew Waters, as the Royals announced that Waters has been selected to the 40-man roster and optioned to Triple-A Omaha.

Kansas City has also recalled lefty Angel Zerpa from Double-A Northwest Arkansas and appointed him as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader. Minor league right-hander Andrew Hoffmann and third baseman CJ Alexander, also acquired from the Braves in the Waters trade, were assigned to Double-A as well.

Griffin, 26, was the No. 28 selection of the 2014 draft but has only appeared in two big league seasons with the Royals with a total of six MLB frames pitched. For years, Griffin was generally ranked among the Royals’ more promising farmhands, although his year-to-year rankings fluctuated greatly. At his best, he looked the part of a potential third or fourth starter, staying healthy and soaking up innings in the upper minors even as his performance endured some wild swings from one season to the next.

However, Griffin suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow early in the 2020 season, and the subsequent Tommy John surgery wiped out the remainder of that season and all of the 2021 campaign. The Royals removed him from the 40-man roster at one point but re-signed him to a minor league deal and selected him to the MLB roster earlier this season.

Now working exclusively as a reliever, Griffin has been excellent in Triple-A, where he sports a 1.93 ERA and a 32-to-6 K/BB. Griffin has punched out 29.4% of his Triple-A opponents against just a 5.5% walk rate — all while showing off a huge 55.9% ground-ball rate. Between his first-round pedigree, the impressive bullpen showing in Triple-A and the fact that Griffin has all three minor league option years remaining, it’s possible that another team will have interest — be it via waivers or a small trade. There’s no sugarcoating the seven runs (six earned) Griffin yielded in just 4 1/3 MLB innings this season, but he’s averaging 93.9 mph on his heater, and teams are always on the lookout for left-handed bullpen help.

The Royals will have a week to trade Griffin, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him.

AL Central Injury Notes: Moncada, Smith, Staumont, Meadows

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White Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada should be activated from the 10-day injured list on Tuesday, manager Tony La Russa told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin and other reporters.  Moncada’s placement (due to a right hamstring strain) was retroactive to June 18, so Tuesday would represent the minimum 10 days for the infielder.

Between this brief IL visit and the oblique injury that sidelined Moncada for the first month of the season, Moncada seems to have barely gotten out of the blocks in 2022, hitting only .179/.230/.292 in 113 plate appearances.  While the Sox are happy to remove a name from their increasingly crowded injured list, they’ll need Moncada to get back to his old form in order for Chicago to start making a move in the playoff race.

Let’s catch up on some other injury situations from around the AL Central…

  • The Twins placed veteran reliever Joe Smith on the 15-day injured list due to tightness in his upper trap muscle.  Left-hander Jovani Moran was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.  Now in his 15th Major League season, Smith has 2.78 ERA over 22 2/3 innings out of Minnesota’s bullpen, with his 62.7% grounder rate helping make up for an unimpressive set of Statcast metrics.
  • The Royals placed right-hander Josh Staumont on the 15-day IL (retroactive to June 23) due to a neck strain.  In corresponding moves, K.C. also optioned lefty Foster Griffin to Triple-A and called up right-handers Jackson Kowar and Matt Peacock.  Staumont told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters that his neck problem had been “lingering for the past couple games,” and Rogers noted that Staumont’s velocity had clearly been impacted over those last few outings.  Staumont has a 3.81 ERA, 27.6% strikeout rate, and a high 14.7% walk rate over 26 innings for the Royals this season, and six of Staumont’s 17 walks allowed have come over his last four games.
  • Austin Meadows will start a minor league rehab assignment this week, with Tigers manager A.J. Hinch telling reporters (including Chris McCosky of The Detroit News) that Meadows will likely start game action on Tuesday.  Meadows was placed on the COVID-related IL on June 17 after testing positive for the coronavirus, but he has now cleared health protocols.

Royals Place Zack Greinke On 15-Day Injured List

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The Royals announced a flurry of roster moves this afternoon, adding four players (outfielder Kyle Isbel, right-handers Arodys Vizcaino and Jose Cuas, and left-hander Foster Griffin) to the active roster, sending three (left-hander Gabe Speier and right-handers Matt Peacock and Zack Greinke) to the injured list, and returning one (outfielder Brewer Hicklen) to Triple-A Omaha.  Of the four activated, Isbel was reinstated from the injured list, Griffin was recalled from Triple-A, and Vizcaino and Cuas were each selected from Triple-A, meaning that they were also added to the club’s 40-man roster.

Greinke is the only one of the three IL players who is going to the 15-day IL with a designated issue, implying that Peacock and Speier are on the COVID-related injury list.  Isbel had also been on the COVID list due to virus symptoms, though it ended up being a non-COVID illness that sidelined the outfielder for four days.

Greinke is suffering from a right flexor strain, and the veteran righty recently told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters that he has been dealing with related soreness for “a little bit.”  While any injury in the forearm or elbow area is a red flag, Greinke added that he has been dealing with some degree of elbow problems for years, so it’s possible that a 15-day absence might be all it takes for Greinke to heal up.

The injury could explain Greinke’s lack of success in his last four starts, as the former Cy Young Award winner has a 9.50 ERA in his last 18 innings of work.  His ERA now sits at 5.05 over 51 2/3 innings, with only a minuscule 11.2% strikeout rate.  Between this lack of whiffs and a lot of hard contact allowed, there isn’t much to like about Greinke’s numbers apart from his typically excellent walk rate (4.5%).

Vizcaino is on the verge of his first MLB appearance since the 2019 season, when he tossed four innings for the Braves before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.  The veteran didn’t return to the field at all until 2021, when he tossed 7 2/3 innings with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate, and Vizcaino then inked a minor league with the Royals this past winter.

After essentially three full years off, it’s hard to know what to expect from Vizcaino in his return to the Show, though he was a very capable bullpen arm for Atlanta in his heyday.  He has also looked quite good with Triple-A Omaha, posting a 1.76 ERA and 29.7% strikeout rate in 15 1/3 innings.  Vizcaino’s 9.4% walk rate is a little on the high side, but actually an improvement over his career 10.8% walk rate at the big league level.

The 27-year-old Cuas has finally reached the majors after a pro career that has seen him bounce around the minors and independent leagues, and change his position entirely from infielder to pitcher.  An 11th-round draft pick by the Brewers in 2015, Cuas wasn’t getting anywhere as a position player, but his fortunes changed after converting to relief pitching in 2018.  Over 126 2/3 career innings in the minors, Cuas has a 2.63 ERA, with a sidearm delivery and a sinker-slider combo that induces a lot of grounders and a good amount (22.22%) of strikeouts.

Royals Option Carlos Hernandez, Select Foster Griffin

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The Royals announced they’ve optioned Carlos Hernández to Triple-A Omaha and placed reliever Ronald Bolaños on the injured list. Kansas City selected left-hander Foster Griffin onto the big league club and recalled righty Matt Peacock. Infielder Adalberto Mondesi has been transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day IL as well.

Hernández becomes the second member of the season-opening rotation to pitch his way off the active roster. Kansas City also optioned Kris Bubic last week, with both hurlers struggling mightily in the early going. Hernández has taken seven turns through the rotation but logged a 9.10 ERA over 29 2/3 innings. He has struck out just 10.7% of batters faced while walking an untenable 13.4% of opponents, making him one of just two starters (minimum 20 innings) with more walks than strikeouts.

Needless to say, that kind of performance isn’t one the Royals can accept every fifth day. The 25-year-old righty posted a 3.68 ERA over 85 2/3 frames last season. His 2021 strikeout and walk numbers weren’t great, but they were far superior to this season’s early marks. Hernández also averaged north of 97 MPH with his fastball last season, but his velocity has taken a slight hit this year. He’ll try to right the ship with the Storm Chasers and earn his way back to the big leagues.

In large part due to Bubic’s and Hernández’s struggles, Kansas City has had one of the least effective rotations in the majors. Royals starters rank 26th with a 4.78 ERA and last with a 5.7 percentage point differential between their strikeout and walk rates. Zack Greinke, Brad Keller and Daniel Lynch have spots locked down, while Jonathan Heasley was recently brought up in Bubic’s stead. Who’ll replace Hernández is to be determined, but former first-round pick Brady Singer has been stretching out as a starter in Omaha after opening the season in the MLB bullpen.

Griffin, meanwhile, will join the bullpen mix for manager Mike Matheny. The former first-round pick made the briefest of big league debuts, appearing in one game for Kansas City in 2020. The Royals outrighted him off their 40-man roster following that season, but he quickly re-signed on a minor league pact. A starting pitcher early in his career, he’s come out of the bullpen 13 times with the Storm Chasers this year.

Over 19 2/3 innings, Griffin has posted a 1.83 ERA. He’s backed that up with excellent peripherals, fanning nearly three in every ten batters while inducing grounders on over 58% of batted balls. Griffin has always had solid control and gotten a fair share of worm-burners, but this season’s early strikeout rate is a marked improvement over his prior results. He has all three minor league option years remaining, so the Royals can bounce him between K.C. and Omaha without exposing him to waivers now that he’s back on the 40-man roster.

Mondesi’s IL transfer was an inevitability. The speedy infielder unfortunately suffered a torn ACL last month and isn’t expected to return this season. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for a final time this winter.

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