Paul Toboni has signed his first free agent contract as Washington Nationals President of Baseball Operations and it’s a move outside the box. He signed Foster Griffin to a one-year, $5.5 million deal. If you haven’t heard of him, I don’t blame you. Griffin has spent the last three years in Japan, where he dominated.
With this deal, the 30-year-old Griffin should have a spot in the Nats’ rotation. While pitching in Japan, Griffin was very productive and now he comes back to North America to challenge himself. Griffin was actually a first-round pick out of high school in 2014, but things never quite clicked for him.
He had a few cups of coffee in the big leagues in 2020 and 2022 but failed to impress. However, Griffin reinvented himself in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants. He didn’t do it by becoming a fireballer like Cody Ponce. Instead, the southpaw really learned how to pitch. Griffin has depth 7 pitch mix that worked like a charm in Japan.
In three seasons in Japan, Griffin posted a 2.57 ERA and struck out 318 batters in 315.2 innings. Last season was his best year, to hang an ERA of 1.62 in 78 innings. Griffin won’t blow anyone away in the big leagues, but Paul Toboni is betting his craft and deep mix will allow him to get outs.
Griffin’s best pitch is a slider that he will have to rely on heavily in the MLB. The fastball is only 91 MPH, so he can’t afford to make mistakes. It also has a cutter, a curve, a changeup, a splitter and a sinker. This is a very different pitcher than the one who last pitched in the MLB in 2022. Griffin at the time just threw a fastball, a cutter, a curve and a changeup.
NPB analysts are fairly optimistic about Griffin. They project him as an eater in rotation innings at the MLB level. The lack of speed creates some limitations, but this is a guy who really knows how to pitch.
Griffin should push someone like Mitchell Parker out of the rotation. Griffin’s deeper mix and command give him an edge over Parker. Interestingly, this is the direction Toboni is headed with his first free agent contract.
Instead of going with a proven rear end of rotation arm like, say, Michael Lorenzen, Toboni goes with a bit of a mystery box. It’s a riskier move, but I think it brings more benefits. There is also less of a book on Griffin in the league because he is more unknown.
Maybe Griffin can do what Erick Fedde did in 2024 and surprise hitters with his new mix. If that happens, the Nats could trade him for a nice package at the deadline. I’m glad to see this activity and curious to see how the Foster Griffin experiment turns out.
#Washington #Nationals #sign #crafty #lefty #Foster #Griffin #Japan