The other day Josh posed this question in After Dark: Should the Cubs sign Cody Ponce?

Ponce pitched in 20 games for the Pirates in 2020 and 2021, with not much success (5.86 ERA, 1.536 WHIP) and then went to throw several years in Japan and Korea, with good results the last two years. Now he wants to come back to MLB and teams are apparently interested.

Foster Griffin’s career had a similar trajectory, with a good pedigree coming into pro ball. He was the Royals’ No. 1 pick (28th overall) in 2014 out of high school in Florida. But he pitched in just seven MLB games for the Royals and Blue Jays in 2020 and 2022, losing the 2021 season to Tommy John surgery, then headed to Japan in 2023 to pitch for the Yomiuri Giants.

In three seasons in NPB, Griffin posted a 2.57 ERA and 1.033 WHIP in

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