The Washington Nationals signed left-handed pitcher Foster Griffin to a one-year Major League contract on Monday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni made the announcement.
Griffin, 30, returns to Major League Baseball after spending the last three seasons with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball. He went 18-10 with a 2.57 ERA, 9.1 strikeouts per 9.0 innings and 2.0 walks per 9.0 innings in 54 starts from 2023-25. A NPB Central League All-Star in 2025, Griffin went 6-1 with a 1.52 ERA, 87 strikeouts, 22 walks and just one home run allowed in 89.0 innings across 17 starts last season.
Griffin made his Major League debut with the Kansas City Royals in 2020, tossing 1.2 innings of scoreless relief to earn the win on July 27 vs. Detroit. He last appeared in Major League Baseball in 2022, pitching in six games between the Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays. Griffin went 6-0 with a 2.10 ERA in 38 relief appearances between Triple-A Omaha and Triple-A Buffalo in 2022.
A first-round pick (No. 28 overall) by the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of The First Academy (Fla.), Griffin was the Royals Minor League Pitcher of the Year and representative in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game in 2017. He went 49-50 with a 4.54 ERA in 194 Minor League games (154 starts) prior to joining the Yomiuri Giants in 2023.