Bio

Christian Griffin could've been a Milwaukee Brewer.

Well, he had a shot, anyway. Four years ago, he was one of 25-ish players the Brew Crew flew out for a pre-draft workout.

"I was dialing it up. I was carving people up. I thought I was for sure gonna get drafted," Griffin said. "And then, believe it or not, I got hurt."

A sharp decrease in velocity meant a sharp downturn in draft stock. It was his ulnar nerve. Of all the names called that July, none belonged to Christian Griffin.

So this pitcher from the Peach State went back to that state for school, appearing at Augusta University. He spent a single season there and spun 72 strikeouts, good for second-most in a season all-time.

Undrafted again, indy ball became the only option. But it was 2020, meaning limited options. He shuttled up to Chicago to pitch in one of those pod leagues of the time, and the starter stood at 1-4 after five starts. He struck out 14, one more than he walked, in 21.1 innings, working a 1.13 WHIP in the process.

All that to say this radiant righty revealed enough to end that season in the American Association. The Houston Apollos called, and Griffin answered with a pair of flash-in-the-pan performances. He faced 21 batters and fanned eight of them. In the game he didn't start, he earned a save. He logged a lone walk and was wildly consistent with the 1.13 WHIP he whipped up again.

It was a super small sample size, but it was still four times the size of his '21.

That year, after facing five batters, Griffin got hurt again.

"That was my first year out of the 'pen. Being a starter my whole career, I didn't know how to maximize myself out of the bullpen yet. I wasn't even really sure how to get loose, and it ended up affecting my arm," Griffin said. "Pretty soon, I went out there and I could tell. My body was there but my arm wasn't attached. I don't really know how to describe it, but I wasn't able to throw for a while after that."

And that was the last time he's seen game action at a level like this.

Fortunately, the six-foot-four-inch force definitely values his bullpen work, and his stuff has really worked. Seeing some of those sessions has been valuable to his pitching coach's optimism.

"One impressive guy that comes to mind right now is Christian Griffin," Maverik Buffo said. "You guys should be very, very excited about him. He's throwing some nasty sinkers at like 94 miles an hour. It looks really good."