The 30-year-old Griffin was selected in the first round, 28th overall, by the Royals in 2014. He pitched in parts of two big league seasons between Kansas City and Toronto, but totaled just eight innings. Griffin pitched well in the minors in 2021-2022 and parlayed that into interest abroad, signing a one-year deal with the Yomiuri Giants.
Griffin re-signed with the Giants after a great first season and ultimately spent 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 decent 5.5% walk rate. Griffin still doesn’t throw particularly hard and is in the low 90s with his fastball, but he is working with a deep arsenal. He relies primarily on a four-seam, slider, cutter and switch (in that order), but occasionally combines a splitter, curve and two-seam.
Griffin was on course for another strong run of results in 2025 when he suffered a leg injury over the summer. He ultimately appeared in only 14 games, but had a total of 1.62 ERA, 25.1% strikeout and 5.9% walk rate in 78 innings. (Griffin also threw 11 minor league innings, giving him 89 total on the season.) He’s now healthy and making normal offseason progress.
Sources told MLBTR that Griffin has spoken to about eight teams with varying levels of interest. His priority in free agency will be at a club that has clear rotation options and a path to 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 before his age-31 or 32 season. That’s still young enough to command a more notable deal as a free agent if he can prove he’s a credible big-league starter over the next two years by incorporating some of the changes he picked up overseas.
Teams in need of top-of-the-rotation upgrades won’t look at Griffin’s NPB work and think it can be transferred. But the 6-foot-1, 225-pound lefty should be a relatively inexpensive option for a club looking for some steady innings with some upside in the back of the rotation.
Griffin does not have the higher speed and scent speed of Cody Poncewho signed a $30 million deal with the Blue Jays in free agency earlier this winter, but we’ve still seen some solid payouts for pitchers returning to North America in recent years. Drew Anderson ($7MM) and Ryan Weiss ($2.6 million) both signed one-year Major League contracts returning from Asia this winter. Left-handed Antonius Kaij signed with the White Sox last week for two years and $12 million. Bringing back starters from Nippon Professional Baseball and the Korea Baseball Organization is an increasingly popular way for teams to find budget innings at the back of the rotation, which should bode well for Griffin after a trio of solid seasons.
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