Why the A’s Should Gamble on This Former Royals First-Round Pick This Offseason
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The Athletics will be after upgrades at a couple of key spots this offseason, but their main focus will presumably be acquiring pitching. While they have a number of young arms with which to choose from, many of them are inexperienced and haven't gone through a full big-league season.
A veteran in the starting rotation could be exactly what they're looking for with one spot in the starting five seemingly up for grabs, and former Kansas City Royals first rounder Foster Griffin may be a terrific fit for the club. According to Jon Heyman, he is looking for an opportunity in MLB after spending three years in Japan.
You may be asking yourself: Who the heck is Foster Griffin? Let's get into it.
Why This Signing Makes Sense
Griffin was selected by the Royals 28th overall in the 2014 MLB Draft, and finally made his MLB debut in 2020, making one appearance and tossing 1 2/3 innings of scoreless ball. In that appearance, he tore his UCL and needed to miss nearly 11 months recovering.
He made his return to the mound in the minors at the end of June in 2021, working 52 innings across 15 starts. He began the following year in the minors as well, but made his way back up to The Show in May of 2022, getting sips of coffee throughout the year and holding an 8.53 ERA with a 1.89 WHIP working in relief for the Royals, and then later the Blue Jays.
Following that season he went overseas to prove that he could be an effective pitcher, and boy did he open some eyes.
Elite Work Overseas
In his three years with the Yomiuri Giants, Griffin ended up going 18-10 with a 2.57 ERA across 315 2/3 innings of work, spanning 54 games. The stats are terrific, but they get even better. He was also striking out 25% of the hitters he faced across all three years, and walking 5.9% in both 2023 and 2025, with a 4.9% throw in between.
In his brief stints in the big leagues with the Royals and Jays in 2022, he also held a ground ball rate of 50%, albeit as a relief pitcher. His ground ball rate stayed in that same range, floating from 47.8% to 53.3% in his three seasons with the Giants. All three of those factors could make him a great player to target for the A's this winter.
Why the A's Could Land Him
The A's are a team that needs pitching, are seemingly on the cusp of reaching the postseason, and still love a good value. Presumably Griffin wants to remain a starting pitcher, and the A's have a knack for agreeing to a player's desired role in order to sign them.
The A's landed two-way prospect Shotaro Morii last winter because they agreed to let him attempt to play shortstop while being a pitcher. That willingness by the A's could knock some of the teams out of the running that still seem Griffin as a relief arm.
The other factor they could work with is tacking on an extra guaranteed year to his deal, so instead of one or two years, they go with two or three. This also may be necessary to get him to agree to playing in a minor-league ballpark, but it's a risk worth taking.
Given that he's still an unproven entity in the big leagues, the dollar amount doesn't figure to be terribly high either way, and the upside would be that the A's could have a solid member of the rotation for that duration. Pitchers in Japan don't tend to throw as hard as those in MLB, so there is still some concern about how he'd stack up against MLB bats.
It also wouldn't hurt that he's put some innings on his arm over the past few years, and that experience could be useful to a club like the A's that has a number of players on both sides of the ball that are still getting used to the grind of a full season. Adding veteran depth may be important for this club in 2026.
If the A's were to whiff on the signing while going to three years, they'd only be out a little bit of money. This is the type of deal that could have a big impact on the future of the A's. If it worked out, they could have more funds available to sign their young stars, too.
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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