Forgotten former Royals prospect returning to MLB after shocking overseas turnaround

Now that the the World Series is just around the corner and more teams have been thrust into offseason mode, the MLB rumor mill is starting to heat up.

The Kansas City Royals have already been linked to some names on the open market in the early stages of the offseason so far.

And now there’s a Royals pitcher making noise, as the once promising farmhand Foster Griffin is reportedly looking to make his return stateside, according to celebrity.land MLB Insider Jon Heyman, after a successful three season stint in NPB,

Will former Royals prospect Foster Griffin return to MLB this winter?

Back in July, FanSided insider Robert Murray reported that Griffin had “caught the attention of MLB teams” amid what turned out to be a spectacular 2025 season.

Now, Heyman said on Sunday night that Griffin will be in fact targeting a return to the majors for the upcoming 2026 season.

Griffin threw to his best NPB campaign in his three year stay with the Yomiuri Giants. In 78.0 innings across 14 games, he threw to a 1.62 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. In his three seasons since heading to Japan, Griffin threw to a 2.57 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 315.2 innings across 54 outings.

These are the type of numbers that Royals fans had hoped to see from him after the team made him a first round pick in 2014 as well as after being ranked a Top 10 prospect in the organization as recently as 2018.

This wasn’t the reality for Griffin and the Royals though. He only managed to appear in 6.0 innings of MLB action for them in 2020 and 2022 combined. In that brief flash in a Royals uniform, Griffin owned a 9.00 ERA and 1.67 WHIP.

He’d then find his way into the Toronto Blue Jays organization after the Royals designated him for assignment in July 2022, where he’d only manage to throw 2.0 more major league innings that year before making the move to Japan after his release from the Jays that offseason.

Whether Griffin ends up successfully making his return stateside remains to be seen, but a reunion with the Royals seems unlikely given their immense starting pitching depth already – where they’ll likely need to subtract from, not add to.