Speaker 1: Hey, I love these stories, and I'm excited that we
Speaker 1: get to talk to Foster Griffin as free agency is
Speaker 1: just beginning. He has been starring out in Japan and
Speaker 1: he's back, not officially, but he will be back. Foster,
Speaker 1: you are a hot topic right now. Great to have
Speaker 1: you on the show. Thanks for joining us, and are
Speaker 1: you excited to be back in MLB suit one hundred percent?
Speaker 2: I had, you know, kind of a second shot, a
Speaker 2: second chance, if you will, at my career to go
Speaker 2: over to Japan, and I spent three years there, three
Speaker 2: great years, and had an unbelievable experience, an unbelievable time
Speaker 2: with the giants, and uh, I'll be forever grateful for
Speaker 2: that experience. But I'm definitely ready to, you know, see
Speaker 2: the things that I've done over there and changed to
Speaker 2: see how that matches up over here.
Speaker 1: Can you tell us more about your story. I always
Speaker 1: like when someone like you can intro up first and
Speaker 1: then we'll have tons of follow ups. But your story,
Speaker 1: both from a journey perspective and then also some of
Speaker 1: the changes that you've made. I always look at these interviews,
Speaker 1: these are big Foster, where we're talking now, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden we could be talking about you
Speaker 1: in October in a big playoff situation. We've seen many
Speaker 1: stories just like this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I'm not your typical you know, journey
Speaker 2: through the minor leagues, I would say, kind of a
Speaker 2: slow slower than most.
Speaker 3: I guess it took a while to get to the
Speaker 3: big leagues.
Speaker 2: And then once I got to the big leagues, I
Speaker 2: tore my UCL my debut, so that was kind of heartbreaking,
Speaker 2: and then work my way back from that and got
Speaker 2: back to the big leagues. But then from there I
Speaker 2: was kind of just your typical four A player in
Speaker 2: a way, bouncing up and down a bunch as a reliever.
Speaker 3: But you know, someone's always watching.
Speaker 2: As we always hear. And during that year in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two, as I was bouncing up and down, US
Speaker 2: had some Japan teams looking at me, and the Giants
Speaker 2: were watching over in Japan, and the big thing for
Speaker 2: me is they wanted me to come back and be
Speaker 2: a starter over there. So that really raised some eyebrows
Speaker 2: for me that that's something that I really wanted to do.
Speaker 2: And then was able to go and kind of re
Speaker 2: establish myself as a starter and really relearn how to
Speaker 2: be a starter, and I think that was massive for
Speaker 2: me and was able to really, you know, buy into
Speaker 2: everything there and have some success.
Speaker 4: Foster, I got a question for you.
Speaker 5: Maybe this were you invited the Big League camp in
Speaker 5: twenty fifteen with the Royals.
Speaker 3: No, I was not.
Speaker 4: Were you up there at all?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're testing my memory.
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't think so that would have That
Speaker 2: would have been my first spring training because I got
Speaker 2: draft in twenty fourteen at a high school. I don't
Speaker 2: think I would have. I don't think that would have
Speaker 2: happened for me, to be honest.
Speaker 5: Okay, when when I started looking you up and stuff,
Speaker 5: when I found out you were going to be on
Speaker 5: the show, I was like, man, I feel like you
Speaker 5: were over in that like section where they keep all
Speaker 5: the young guys in camp that year.
Speaker 4: But maybe you.
Speaker 3: Never saw me. I was on field six, you.
Speaker 5: Were away out there. You're the long the stones. Then
Speaker 5: I want to go to I want to go to
Speaker 5: your debut. I don't think we've asked anybody this. Maybe
Speaker 5: we have on the show. But you debuted in COVID.
Speaker 5: I always said, I always said, not talking about your
Speaker 5: injury or anything. Debuting in COVID was either the hardest
Speaker 5: or the easiest debut for people because you went from
Speaker 5: minor league games where there wasn't that many depending on
Speaker 5: where you played, to zero fancy. You're like, okay, a
Speaker 5: lot less pressure, but nobody got to come and experience it.
Speaker 5: So what was that experience like for you as we
Speaker 5: moved then on into your big league career.
Speaker 2: I would say just from I didn't have a whole
Speaker 2: lot of experience like you guys were talking about, like
Speaker 2: pitching in front of big crowds or big games or
Speaker 2: anything like that. So I think it was easier in
Speaker 2: a sense to where there's nobody there. You had expanded rosters,
Speaker 2: you know, for the while, so it was a little
Speaker 2: bit easier, I guess mentally, and not as like maybe
Speaker 2: hyped up. Although on the other end of that, it's
Speaker 2: a sixty game season, so there's like a real push, like, hey,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of these teams that could maybe make
Speaker 2: a run and sneak your way into the playoffs. So
Speaker 2: there was that pressure of going out there and treating
Speaker 2: every game of like, hey, we really got to win
Speaker 2: this game. But like I said, that was pretty short
Speaker 2: lived for me because I debuted and then my elbow
Speaker 2: wasn't cooperating and had to get surgery, so that kind
Speaker 2: of was short lived. But I have to answer your question.
Speaker 2: I would say it was probably a little bit easier
Speaker 2: in the grand scheme of things.
Speaker 6: As someone that went to Japan. You were there for
Speaker 6: three years. Do you speak Japanese?
Speaker 4: Now? Are you? Are you multi lingual bilingual? Now?
Speaker 3: I know a little bit. I can.
Speaker 2: I can have little conversations. I understand a lot more
Speaker 2: than I can speak. It got to the point to where,
Speaker 2: you know, picture meetings and stuff like that, I could
Speaker 2: understand what was being said. Now if they asked me
Speaker 2: to then reiterate exactly what they said and speak it
Speaker 2: in Japanese, I don't know if I could do that.
Speaker 2: But I got to the point to where even my
Speaker 2: translator was noticing that I was kind of picking up
Speaker 2: on conversations and stuff.
Speaker 4: How hard is that? How hard is that?
Speaker 6: Because we see Shohe, and we see Yamamoto and Sazaki,
Speaker 6: and before that each your row and Matsui and all
Speaker 6: these guys come over. So you went over there, How
Speaker 6: hard is it for you? That you know, grew up
Speaker 6: in Florida, went to the first academy. We're going to
Speaker 6: get to that, don't worry. And then you would go
Speaker 6: to Japan to a place where you don't know the culture,
Speaker 6: you don't know the language, and oh, yeah, by the way,
Speaker 6: you have to play baseball and perform.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that part's very difficult. I think it's harder than
Speaker 2: a lot of people realize. And I think it might
Speaker 2: bring to light a little bit of how hard it
Speaker 2: is for some of these Japanese guys that come here
Speaker 2: and perform and perform. Well, it's definitely it's it's completely different.
Speaker 2: You know, you're going there, Yes, you have a translator,
Speaker 2: but once you get into the game, like your translator
Speaker 2: is not by your side on the mound, so you're
Speaker 2: kind of having to figure things out on the go
Speaker 2: and on and by yourself.
Speaker 3: But I kind of went into it with an open mind.
Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, I'm going to try and immerse
Speaker 2: myself in the culture a little bit, learn how the
Speaker 2: baseball is different, and how can I adapt to that
Speaker 2: to make myself better.
Speaker 3: How can I, you know, converse with.
Speaker 2: My teammates in any way, because as you guys know,
Speaker 2: with you know, Latino guys here in the States as well,
Speaker 2: there's Baseball is kind of a universal language, and I
Speaker 2: think that transpires over there as well, so you kind
Speaker 2: of get to know how to speak the baseball lingo,
Speaker 2: I guess in a way, even in Japanese. So I
Speaker 2: was able to kind of really immerse myself into the
Speaker 2: culture that way, into the baseball culture specifically, and I
Speaker 2: just kind of wanted to learn as much as possible
Speaker 2: while I was there.
Speaker 5: All Right, you said to yourself, you kind of gotten
Speaker 5: to that four A player type of role. You went
Speaker 5: over there and you had success. What's the talent like
Speaker 5: over there? What would you what would you equate? People
Speaker 5: ask me this all the time. I only went for
Speaker 5: two weeks in like exhibition type games. What's the talent
Speaker 5: like over there? Where would you equate it? Is it
Speaker 5: a four A level?
Speaker 2: Such a hard question I get asked all the time. Simply, yes,
Speaker 2: I would say it's a four A. But it's also different.
Speaker 2: So their lineup construction, the way I would translated is
Speaker 2: more old school baseball. Okay, your first couple hitters are
Speaker 2: probably going to be most likely left handed and most
Speaker 2: likely speed center field, shortstop, second basement contact. Get the
Speaker 2: guy over, not going to strike out? A lot on
Speaker 2: Your three, four, five, six, depending on the team might
Speaker 2: fall to seven, are going to be your RBI, have
Speaker 2: some power, have some pop, and then your eight nine
Speaker 2: guys are going to be probably your defensive specialists. Also
Speaker 2: contact guys that aren't going to strike out, but also
Speaker 2: can play many positions, as they still have after next
Speaker 2: year they're not going to have it, but in one
Speaker 2: of the leagues they still have the pitchers hit, so
Speaker 2: they do some double switches, and guys that are more
Speaker 2: versatile when it comes to playing different positions. They have
Speaker 2: those kind of guys laid out there in the eight, seven,
Speaker 2: eight nine spots. So the lineup construction I would say
Speaker 2: is not to repeat myself, but more old school baseball,
Speaker 2: as I would say, And that's kind of where I
Speaker 2: would say, it's a little bit different, And that's kind
Speaker 2: of as a starter where I kind of learned to
Speaker 2: navigate through lineups a little bit and kind of have
Speaker 2: my cues.
Speaker 3: Of where I'm at in the lineup.
Speaker 2: Are they about to do a pinch hitter, are they
Speaker 2: about to do a double switch, and kind of have
Speaker 2: that little bit of extra knowledge.
Speaker 6: Foster, You've we've seen guys come over recently that go
Speaker 6: over to Japan and come back and they get nice contracts.
Speaker 6: What's your expectance, your expectations for free agency and what
Speaker 6: are you looking for? And would you like, let's say
Speaker 6: that you don't get a deal here, do you have
Speaker 6: the ability because I don't know how this works, do
Speaker 6: you have the ability to still go back to Japan
Speaker 6: and pitch again? Or once you say, hey, I want
Speaker 6: to be back to the MLB, then you lose that, right,
Speaker 6: I don't be cause I honestly I don't even know
Speaker 6: how it works.
Speaker 2: No, not necessarily, not necessarily. I think right now I'm
Speaker 2: a free agent, and that's a free that's an international
Speaker 2: free agent. So I have the ability, I think, to
Speaker 2: sign over here as well as entertaining any offers that
Speaker 2: would come from any Japan team as well.
Speaker 4: That's great. So what's better? Yeah? I was gonna say
Speaker 4: which one was better?
Speaker 2: I mean, I I you know, I think for me,
Speaker 2: it was never like I think for some guys they
Speaker 2: really want to go to Japan, play a year, come
Speaker 2: back and get their deal.
Speaker 3: Right For me.
Speaker 2: That I put that so far back in my mind
Speaker 2: because I really felt, like I said earlier, I got
Speaker 2: a second chance at baseball, and I was able to
Speaker 2: kind of make a mini career out of it, if
Speaker 2: you will, in Japan, and I changed so much and
Speaker 2: I feel like I grew so much as a picture
Speaker 2: that at this point in time, if the opportunity came about,
Speaker 2: I'd like to really test what I did and how
Speaker 2: the much those changes improved me, because I feel like
Speaker 2: they really did, and see how that plays out here
Speaker 2: at the big league level, because I really think I
Speaker 2: can do it. So yeah, that's kind of where I'm
Speaker 2: at at the moment. But like like I said before,
Speaker 2: I'm technically an international free agent. So if an opportunity
Speaker 2: weren't to come, which I hope it does, but you know,
Speaker 2: Japan would still be open.
Speaker 4: What did you change?
Speaker 5: What's the one singular thing that was the biggest change
Speaker 5: for you, besides the fact you probably came back with
Speaker 5: like nine pitches, so the catchers back that are hitting
Speaker 5: all the buttons boo boo boo boo boop.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely added some pitches, and I would say
Speaker 2: that's probably the biggest thing for me.
Speaker 3: One thing.
Speaker 2: As I moved on the rubber, I moved all the
Speaker 2: way to the first base side, so a little bit
Speaker 2: of crossfire for lefties. And then I added a splitter,
Speaker 2: which everyone throws over there. I feel like if you
Speaker 2: go over there as a pitcher, that's probably one thing
Speaker 2: you're gonna see is all these guys getting swing and
Speaker 2: miss and so many ground balls on these splitters and
Speaker 2: fork balls, as you guys have seen probably in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: And then I added a sweeper, which I threw a
Speaker 2: sweeper when I got traded over to the Blue Jays,
Speaker 2: and I didn't really refine it. And then once I
Speaker 2: got there, I really kind of found a grip and
Speaker 2: found a que that really helped me, and I started
Speaker 2: getting a lot more swing and miss to lefties, both
Speaker 2: on the splitter because I didn't throw my change up
Speaker 2: to the lefties, so that added an extra wrinkle the
Speaker 2: left handers. And then so I was real and then
Speaker 2: as well as a sweeper, I was able to really
Speaker 2: command it, so I was able to throw it back
Speaker 2: door to rioty's which expanded the plate on the other side,
Speaker 2: and then you know, moving away from a lefty with
Speaker 2: a sweeper.
Speaker 6: All right, So you mentioned grips, and you mentioned this
Speaker 6: and that, but Japan has a tacky baseball. She'd a
Speaker 6: US find your way to have a tacky baseball, and
Speaker 6: can you replicate that grip in that movement with a
Speaker 6: US Baseball or Major League Baseball baseball, because it's just
Speaker 6: a different ball and with different seams and different grips
Speaker 6: on it.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 4: It is.
Speaker 2: But I think you have seen enough guys from Japan
Speaker 2: come over here and still utilize it very well. So
Speaker 2: I don't think that, And for most all of the
Speaker 2: offseason accept my bullpens because I play catch with other
Speaker 2: guys that are here in the big leagues. I played
Speaker 2: catch with the Big League ball and then before I
Speaker 2: head to Japan for my bullpens only, I'll use the
Speaker 2: japan ball that they give us or the Japanese Japanese ball.
Speaker 2: But I don't think that would be an just because
Speaker 2: one I played here for so long and they implemented
Speaker 2: the big leg.
Speaker 3: Balls into triple A.
Speaker 2: I think that was twenty nineteen, so I pitched with those.
Speaker 4: For a while.
Speaker 2: But you know, to reiterate, I don't think that would
Speaker 2: be an issue. Do I think they should add it.
Speaker 2: I know there's a lot of talk about it. I
Speaker 2: feel like Major League Baseball could come up with a
Speaker 2: way to do it. Safely. Just it all comes pre packaged.
Speaker 2: It's the ball is in a package and then you
Speaker 2: tear it open and.
Speaker 3: It's ready to go.
Speaker 2: There's no rubbing, there's no mud, there's nothing they got
Speaker 2: to do to it. It's pretty universal, I would say,
Speaker 2: throughout the whole league.
Speaker 3: But I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm not on the committee to give any more than
Speaker 2: that onto it.
Speaker 6: All right, Well, now now it's time to dig into
Speaker 6: the real crux of the problem, all right.
Speaker 4: So, I don't know if you can see this or not.
Speaker 2: So I got a funny story about you and TIAF
Speaker 2: to begin with.
Speaker 6: Okay, first of all, I never I've never seen you
Speaker 6: at TFA ever, I know, and I was there for
Speaker 6: years as a coach, and you never showed up one time.
Speaker 6: Nor have you ever donated any money. You're the Eric
Speaker 6: Kratz of the first Academy. He has never donated a set.
Speaker 6: I don't understand.
Speaker 2: Well, so, I don't know when what year did your
Speaker 2: kids start going to TFA twenty twelve.
Speaker 6: My kids have been there since they started in a
Speaker 6: pre K so they went all the way through.
Speaker 4: My kids went all the way through.
Speaker 2: Okay, So the story I have on that is I
Speaker 2: think it was twenty twelve, because I think I was
Speaker 2: a sophomore. Were you did you just leave the White
Speaker 2: Sox at the time, or where were you at in
Speaker 2: your career at that point?
Speaker 4: Twelve was my last year with the White Sox.
Speaker 3: Okay. And then this adds up.
Speaker 2: So we're just about to start our season and we're
Speaker 2: in the locker room and our coach comes in with
Speaker 2: about four boxes, boxes, and he just drops them in
Speaker 2: the in the locker room and they're all black and
Speaker 2: white custom aj Persinsky Nike cleats, boxes full of them.
Speaker 2: And what what size did you? What size fleets did
Speaker 2: you wear?
Speaker 4: Twelve?
Speaker 3: Okay? So I was eleven.
Speaker 2: I wear eleven still, and I played in a size way.
Speaker 2: I played in your cleats for twenty twelve, thirteen, twenty fourteen,
Speaker 2: the last three years of my high school career, and
Speaker 2: they were definitely too big. I definitely shouldn't have played
Speaker 2: in him, but I thought that was the coolest thing
Speaker 2: ever that you know, there was like three of us
Speaker 2: that were rocking your cleats for that time period that
Speaker 2: were probably all too big. But that was your generous donation,
Speaker 2: I guess to us. And I always remember that because
Speaker 2: I don't know if I still have a pair of
Speaker 2: my parents' house still in Orlando.
Speaker 4: But.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just I remember that vividly, that that boxes
Speaker 2: of cleats being dropped off, and then I played in
Speaker 2: those for the rest of my high school career.
Speaker 4: Hopefully you and Hazley Adam Hazley also won because.
Speaker 3: Hazey was rocking them as well.
Speaker 6: Now I've seen Hazley around, so I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 6: Maybe Mike cleats is fitting better. I don't know, but
Speaker 6: I've seen Hazley come to games support the boys.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 6: But what I want to know is, you know, twenty
Speaker 6: twenty one, my son's in eighth grade state champs. Right,
Speaker 6: So just in case you're wondering, I got another one
Speaker 6: here from twenty twenty five where we won again.
Speaker 4: So sorry, sorry about it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we always fell short.
Speaker 4: Yeah I can't. That's my question. You guys had two
Speaker 4: first rounders, two.
Speaker 2: On Bendeluzo and Bendaluzia.
Speaker 6: Yes, the three big leaguers on your team, and you
Speaker 6: guys couldn't win.
Speaker 4: Was it coaching? Was it pressure? Was it Will Cohen?
Speaker 4: What was it?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 2: There was a time I remember our best year talent wise.
Speaker 2: I think was my junior year because Ben was still there.
Speaker 2: Ben was a senior, and I remember I I could
Speaker 2: be totally wrong in this, but I remember we were
Speaker 2: in that weird scenario of like, Okay, we're winning this game.
Speaker 2: I started, we were winning this game, but he took
Speaker 2: me out after four because on pitch count, he could
Speaker 2: maybe save me for like the later round and like
Speaker 2: for the playoffs, if that makes sense. So he took
Speaker 2: me out and then I think I don't remember what
Speaker 2: team it was, but they ended up coming back and
Speaker 2: we ended up losing that game. So that kind of
Speaker 2: stuck with us a little bit of like we should
Speaker 2: have just you know, we got to win this game
Speaker 2: to move on. But then when we tried to kind
Speaker 2: of say pitching and play looking forward, we ended up
Speaker 2: losing that game and got knocked out. But our senior year,
Speaker 2: you know, not to we didn't win the state championship,
Speaker 2: but we did win the nhs I.
Speaker 6: That's a that's a lo that's a loose national championship.
Speaker 4: You were like, look at the champion.
Speaker 3: Look at the talent.
Speaker 2: Go look at the teams and the talent guys that
Speaker 2: got drafted out of that team.
Speaker 6: You did have two first rounders on the team and
Speaker 6: another guy to play in the Babies. But and Kyle
Speaker 6: Connell who's a scout for the Astros too, So you
Speaker 6: had we beat.
Speaker 3: Dylan one zero, but it's not a big deal. Else
Speaker 3: was in there.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of a lot of Mike, just a
Speaker 2: lot of good guys in there.
Speaker 6: I heard about I heard all about this team until
Speaker 6: twenty twenty one, and then we actually got it done.
Speaker 3: Fair enough, I think you have that.
Speaker 6: Twenty five, we got it done again. So I mean,
Speaker 6: I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: I think you guys dropped a couple of classifications if
Speaker 2: I if I'm going to really argue here.
Speaker 3: But we want real that A was it is it
Speaker 3: still three A Okay?
Speaker 2: The night team because okay, but there it is.
Speaker 4: The team.
Speaker 6: The team we beat in the state final was ranked
Speaker 6: two in the country, and I think tf A finished
Speaker 6: seven or eight in the country. So you can't say, oh,
Speaker 6: we walked our way. You know TFA walked their way through.
Speaker 6: You know they did the finals. They beat the team
Speaker 6: those ranked I think two or three in the country.
Speaker 3: So fair enough, fair enough.
Speaker 1: Don't get me started on the high school baseball rankly,
Speaker 1: don't get me started. But this was wonderful, especially the
Speaker 1: last few minutes. But in all seriousness, this was great.
Speaker 1: I hope you and you should come out there.
Speaker 4: Foster. A new locker.
Speaker 6: Room, there's a turf, there's a new locker room, there's
Speaker 6: indoor cages.
Speaker 4: I mean, you should. You should make an appearance. The
Speaker 4: kids would love to see you.
Speaker 2: Funny story, my dad was at a local YMCA. Real
Speaker 2: quick on how much time I have, But my dad
Speaker 2: was at a local y m C a not that
Speaker 2: long ago. And they I think theyre may may have
Speaker 2: been baseball players, but they're wearing the first Keademy shirts
Speaker 2: and there I think they did play baseball. My dad
Speaker 2: was like, oh, like, you know, are you guys playing
Speaker 2: baseball there? And he's like yeah. And my dad was like, well,
Speaker 2: my son played there actually and a while ago. And
Speaker 2: they were like, what's his name? And he told me
Speaker 2: my name, and the guy both of them were like,
Speaker 2: I have no idea who that is. So I don't
Speaker 2: know how much the kids were actually recognized or even
Speaker 2: know who I am.
Speaker 3: So but nonetheless, here we go.
Speaker 1: Not Foster, they will know, they exactly, yes, they will know.
Speaker 1: They will see your name pop up for a nice
Speaker 1: offseason deal and then they will see you in the
Speaker 1: bigs next year. This was great, man. Don't be a stranger.
Speaker 1: You got a great personality. Great to have you on here.
Speaker 1: Good luck in the free agency process, and how about this,
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you after that plays out.
Speaker 3: Deal sounds great. I appreciate you guys having me on.
Speaker 4: Thanks,