How a journey through Japan, 7-pitch mix led Foster Griffin to Guardians

CLEVELAND — Few pitchers are as well-traveled or well-armed — so to speak — than Foster Griffin. So it follows that he’d be among the current starting pitchers who call their own pitches. 

It’d be hard to argue with the results, considering it punched his ticket back to the United States.  

Griffin, who the Guardians acquired just before the buzzer of the trade deadline on Aug. 3, earned an All-Star selection, his first, with the National League as a member of the Washington Nationals this season. 

That’s not a bad accolade for any player, but particularly one who before 2026 hadn’t thrown a pitch in the major leagues since 2022, and as recently as last year was pitching in Japan. 

It was there, more than 6,000 miles away, that Griffin began to fine tune his pitch arsenal. After three seasons pitching in NPB, he returned to North America. And in a span of a few months, he traveled from Florida for spring training, to Washington, D.C., for his home games, to Philadelphia for the All-Star Game and then to Cleveland via the trade. 

“Like a whirlwind, right?” Griffin said this week after the trade deadline had passed. “I feel like I haven’t had a whole lot of time yet to just kind of sit back and process it. Maybe that’ll be in the offseason, just because with now I’m focused on the craft and what we’re doing and trying to help this team win the division, more than anything.” 

stats after trade to Guardians

Griffin said he had nothing but positive things to say about his three years living in Japan. But as he honed and added pitches over those three seasons, opportunity in the major leagues again came knocking, allowing him to return after stints with the Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays before his three-year hiatus across the Pacific Ocean. 

When he went to Japan, he threw a four-pitch mix (fastball, cutter, curveball, changeup) that wasn’t giving him the results he wanted. While there, over time he added a splitter, then a sinker and finally a sweeper. 

“I pitched with all of them last year,” Griffin said, speaking of the final year in Japan that earned him a one-year deal with the Nationals. “And then this would be my second full year with that full arsenal.” 

And because of a number of factors, he’s one of the pitchers who likes to call his own pitches via the PitchCom system. He did that with the Nationals en route to a 12-3 record and a 3.06 ERA with 116 strikeouts in 129⅓ innings. 

Griffin made his Guardians debut Aug. 6 in Cleveland’s 13-6 loss to the New York Mets. It didn’t go entirely to plan, as he was tagged for five earned runs on seven hits with six strikeouts. He said after the outing that he felt “responsible for that one.” 

Regardless of one start, the Guardians made their expectations of him clear by moving former starter Slade Cecconi to the bullpen in the process. 

In doing so, they added a seven-pitch-mix lefty who returned to North America as an entirely different pitcher. It’s a unique path to this point. And it’s part of the reason why it’s easier for him to call his own pitches. 

“I’m pretty heavy into my own scouting reports, and I’m a firm believer that a convicted pitch is a better pitch with one you’re not convicted in,” Griffin said. “And me, with a deep arsenal and a pitch clock, sometimes it makes it difficult to shake [off a pitch from the catcher], and then I have a lot of options. So with the pitch clock, [having the catcher call pitches] can be a little challenging.” 

Ryan Lewis covers the Guardians for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com.