This story was excerpted from Jessica Camerato’s Nationals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
After pitching the last three seasons in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants, Foster Griffin is returning to the Major Leagues in the Nationals' starting rotation. Get to know the 30-year-old southpaw off the mound (and be sure to read on if you are a fan of “The Office”).
MLB.com: Your first name is Fred. What is the backstory of your name?
Griffin: I'm just a junior, nothing crazy. My dad's name is Fred. I'm his exact name, Fred Foster, with a Junior. Then they decided to call me by my middle name. I had some issues in elementary and middle school whenever they would call me Fred. All my friends would be like, "Who's that?"
MLB.com: If you were not going to be a baseball player, what were some of your other dreams?
Griffin: It’s always been sports-related for me. Golf was huge for me. That's my dad's profession. He’s a teaching professional, has been for a really long time, so I actually started playing golf before I did baseball. There was a point in time there, in early high school, when I thought that was maybe going to be the route. Then I hit a really big growth spurt and kind of discovered what a weight room was. Then I started throwing harder, and baseball kind of took off a little bit.
MLB.com: It's a bit ironic that you golfed, but now you play a position that doesn't involve swinging anything.
Griffin: Pitchers also golf a lot, though. So we have that going, too.
MLB.com: Did you ever want to be a hitter?
Griffin: I liked doing both in high school. I really did. And then when I went over to Japan, pitchers hit, so I kind of got to get back into that a little bit. I liked it every now and then, but I didn't love it after I had a long inning and I’d have to go lead off. I was like, "OK, I’m over this." But hitting is so hard, especially since I just did it the last three years. Hitters get a lot of credit for how hard it is to do, so I’m good with it.
MLB.com: When you were growing up, which player was your favorite?
Griffin: Clayton Kershaw was huge for me. I always watched him a lot. I liked David Price, too, when he was with the Rays. Being in Florida, we’d always see those local games on. Those would be the two that I watched a lot growing up.
MLB.com: What was the coolest thing that you experienced when you were playing overseas?
Griffin: That’s a loaded question. I just don't think people understand the environment over there is pretty crazy, the baseball environment. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a game that wasn’t sold out. We averaged something crazy, like 35,000 to 38,000 fans a game. Even when you’d go play on the road, those games are crazy, too. So just overall, I would say the way they look at baseball is pretty crazy compared to here.
The food was great, the experiences were great. Some of the food spots I’d walk into, having raw chicken and some crazy stuff like that, raw beef, sushi. My teammates were able to hook me up with spots to go to.
MLB.com: Who is your best friend in baseball?
Griffin: Brady Singer. Our wives are close, we have kids the same age, we hang out. They live 10 minutes from us in the offseason. We're throwing partners in the offseason, too. So we live very similar lives.
MLB.com: What makes him a good friend?
Griffin: I think we have a lot of the same values, similar work ethics, similar schedules. I think a lot of similarities that match up for us, especially in the offseason, make it easy to kind of work together and also just be good friends.
MLB.com: Everybody has that show or movie where they just zone out and can watch it over and over again. What is it for you?
Griffin: "The Office." I’ve seen it a lot. The dry humor is hilarious. I think that kind of humor is kind of lost now. It’s still a show that I feel like I can turn on and just kind of do other things with, and it's on in the background, or fall asleep, too. That’s my go-to.
MLB.com: Who’s your favorite character?
Griffin: That’s loaded, too.
Miles Mikolas chimes in: “He’s got to be a Dwight guy.”
Griffin: I am a Dwight guy. I think he makes a lot of the show, for sure.