Arthur Joseph Griffin (born January 28, 1988) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or dr ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

(MLB) for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...

and Texas Rangers.

Early life

Griffin attended

Grossmont High School Grossmont High School is the oldest high school in San Diego's east county, California. Its mascot is the Foothiller, so chosen because, at the time of the school's construction, east county was much more isolated from the rest of San Diego than ...

. He was named the pitcher and player of the year in his league during the 2006 season. Grossmont won the league championship. He was drafted by the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

in the 34th round in 2009, but he did not sign with the Phillies.

Professional career

Griffin was drafted by the

in the 13th round of the

2010 Major League Baseball Draft The 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held on June 7–9, 2010 at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. First-round selections The draft order was determined based on the 2009 MLB standings, with the worst team pi ...

out of the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Sch ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the Toreros from 2007 to 2010.

Oakland Athletics

2012 season

Griffin made his major league debut on June 24, 2012 against the San Francisco Giants. He went 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 3 hits, striking out 4 and walking 1 in a no-decision. Griffin struck out

Gregor Blanco Gregor Miguel Blanco Pedraza (born December 24, 1983) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves, the Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals, ...

looking for his first major league strikeout. Griffin would wind up finishing the season with a record of 7-1 and an ERA of 3.06 in 15 starts for the A's. Griffin pitched in the ALDS against the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

, pitching 5 innings of 2 run ball en route to a no-decision.

2013 season

Griffin made the A's opening day roster and started out as the fourth starter in the rotation. He won his first start of the 2013 season beating out the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion ...

to tie the opening series of the season. Griffin pitched his first career shutout/complete game on June 26, defeating the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. Griffin pitched 200 innings for the division winning A's, providing them with 32 starts and 14 wins in the process. He also led the league in home runs allowed with 36.

2014 season

Griffin began the season on the 60 Day DL with flexor tendinitis in his right elbow. On April 29, it was announced that Griffin would require

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's ...

and would miss the entire 2014 season.

2015 season

Griffin was placed on the 60-day disabled list to begin the 2015 season in an effort to continue recovery from last year's Tommy John surgery. He spent the entire year recovering once again after feeling soreness in his surgically repaired elbow. Towards the end of August, Griffin made his first appearance in almost 2 years, pitching in Class A. After making 2 starts, he got called up to AAA to finish the season. After 4 starts of recovery, Griffin didn't get called up by the A's. On November 20, Griffin was designated for assignment. He was released a few days later.

Texas Rangers

Griffin signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers on December 21, 2015. With

Yu Darvish , more commonly known as Yu Darvish (ダルビッシュ有), is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). Darvish has also played in MLB for the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and ...

being out until May, the Rangers had one open spot in the rotation. Griffin won the job during Spring Training, and was slated as the 5th man in the rotation. Griffin had finally made his MLB return on April 8, 2016 against the Los Angeles Angels. He pitched 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and one strikeout as the Rangers won, 7–3, giving Griffin his first victory in more than two years.

New York Mets

On February 26, 2018, Griffin signed a minor league contract with an invite to spring training with the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

. He was released on April 19.

Pitching style

Griffin throws four pitches: a

four-seam fastball A four-seam fastball, also called a rising fastball, a four-seamer, or a cross-seam fastball, is a pitch in baseball. It is a member of the fastball family of pitches and is usually the hardest (i.e., fastest) ball thrown by a pitcher. It is c ...

at 88–91 mph, a

12-6 curveball 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

at 68–70, a cutter to right-handed hitters at 82–85, and a

changeup A changeup is a type of pitch in baseball and fastpitch softball. The changeup is a staple off-speed pitch often used in a pitcher's arsenal, usually thrown to look like a fastball but arriving much more slowly to the plate. Its reduced speed ...

to left-handers at 78–82.

References

External links

San Diego Toreros bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, A. J. 1988 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Arizona League Athletics players Baseball players from California Burlington Bees players Frisco RoughRiders players Las Vegas 51s players Major League Baseball pitchers Midland RockHounds players Nashville Sounds players Oakland Athletics players Round Rock Express players Sacramento River Cats players San Diego Toreros baseball players Sportspeople from El Cajon, California Stockton Ports players Texas Rangers players Vancouver Canadians players