Foster Griffin, injured in ‘emotional’ MLB debut, motivated to make Royals roster again
.jpg "Kansas City Royals pitcher Foster Griffin gets ready to throw during baseball practice at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday, July 9, 2020, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)")
The day Kansas City Royals left-hander Foster Griffin threw his first pitch as a major-league player, he experienced an emotional overload that ran the gamut from elation to despondence. Unfortunately, his elbow also experienced a painful and career-altering overload.
After spending last year rehabbing and pitching the minors, Griffin has been in major-league camp this spring as a non-roster invitee on a minor-league contract trying, once again, to carve out a role among the bevy of pitching talent the Royals have stockpiled in their organization.
Griffin, a former first-round draft pick of the Royals in 2014, 28th overall, had his fits and starts in the minor leagues. When he first got called up to the majors during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he shared with reporters how at times he seriously doubted he’d ever make it to the majors. He even recalled a tearful exchange with his parents when they came to see him in Myrtle Beach in 2016.
He’d weathered the storm of doubt and made his debut at Detroit’s Comerica Park in the fourth game of the 2020 season.
His first out as a big-leaguer? A strikeout. He tossed 1 2/3 hitless innings and got the win thanks to a Royals rally. It all came on his 25th birthday, July 27.
However, his outing ended with him leaving the game because of an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery to repair.
“It was an emotional day for sure, trying to balance the joy of finally getting to the big leagues and making the debut and, obviously, the lows of coming out with an injury and an injury so extensive that I had to get Tommy John surgery,” Griffin said.
“The road back kind of went by fast, but at times went by slow. I got to throw almost 50 rehab innings last year in the minor leagues, which was nice. The Royals gave me an opportunity to come back again this year and try to work my way back to the big leagues.”
The recovery from Tommy John surgery, a procedure to reconstruct the ulnar collateral ligament, usually takes roughly 10 to 12 months.
It has become so commonplace among baseball players, even non-pitchers, that Griffin didn’t have to go far to find players who’d traveled the same road to recovery.
“Right when it happened, I had some guys in the locker room that came up to me once I found out my diagnosis,” Griffin said. “Greg Holland had Tommy John. Danny Duffy had Tommy John. [Salvador Perez] had Tommy John. So they all kind of told me that rehab is tough. It’s a mental grind. Take the rehab seriously. Every now and then I’d reach out briefly to Duffy just through text and stuff. He was encouraging.”
Working his way back
Griffin credited Justin Hahn, the Royals minor-league rehab coordinator, for helping him through the process. Griffin said he didn’t truly feel back to himself until this offseason.
Last year, his body took time to readjust to go back out for a second or third inning after he’d thrown an inning then sat down for an extended period of time while his team was batting.
Last season while rehabbing, he appeared in games for five different affiliate clubs including four outings with two different Rookie Level affiliates, two at Low-A Columbia, three at Double-A Northwest Arkansas and six appearances with Triple-A Omaha.
In his first 52 innings post-surgery, he posted a 3.81 ERA with 51 strikeout and a 1.29 WHIP in 15 games.
However, that 1 2/3 innings he threw in the big leagues might be an even bigger motivation for him than his initial dream.
“It’s great to see him back,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Griffin. “In one breath, I say it was really hard to watch him have that happen in that game. But then also, it’s a pretty good way too. It happened on a major-league field instead of a minor-league field. He was able to get back pretty quick. He showed us what he could do.
“It wasn’t like this regret of ‘Oh, I wish I would have done better.’ He dealt that day. He looked so good. That always kept that in our mind. Right, the last thing you see? I thought it looked extremely good.”
This offseason, Griffin did a lot of his training in Tampa, Florida. He worked a lot with Royals pitchers Brad Keller and Brady Singer as well as throwing regularly with Jackson Kowar.
Griffin gave no indication that he was content to have gone out in a blaze of glory in his lone big-league appearance.
“He’s one of the most hard-working human beings I’ve ever been around,” Keller said. “Knowing what happened to him, where you make your debut, it’s your birthday, then have Tommy John and lose a year of your career out of it — you’d have no idea [being around him].
“He didn’t feel for bad himself at any point. He just put nose to the grindstone and worked really hard his entire time off and then when he came back. Just watching him workout this offseason, me and Singer both were trying to keep up with him all offseason. He was running circles around us most days. It was really impressive to see how he bounced back and continues to grind.”
The Royals have a lot of homegrown starting pitching options in camp who either made their major-league debuts the same year as Griffin or since his injury. They also added veteran Zack Greinke this offseason as well as left-handed reliever Amir Garrett via trade.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity to come back, even as a non-roster guy, and I’m looking to work my way back to the big leagues whether it be in the starting rotation or in the bullpen in long relief or any sort of relief,” Griffin said. “I’m just kind of trying to find my role and see the best way that I can fit to help the team win.”
This story was originally published March 28, 2022 at 3:44 PM.
