BIOGRAPHY
Griffin Jax was born June 8, 2021, in Englewood, Colorado. He is a pitcher in the MLB.
After his junior year, Jax was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the third round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft. He signed for $645,000, and made his professional debut with the Elizabethton Twins of the Rookie-level Appalachian League, pitching 8+2⁄3 innings. In 2017, he pitched in only five games before he was required to report Cape Canaveral, Florida for active duty. In those five starts, he went 2–2 with a 2.61 ERA between Elizabethton and the Cedar Rapids Kernels of the Class A Midwest League. In 2018, he was granted membership into the United States military's World Class Athlete Program, allowing him to make Olympic training his full-time responsibility (which counts towards his five years of required active duty) which in turn allowed him to play in the minor leagues full-time. During the season, he pitched for the Fort Myers Miracle of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, going 3–4 with a 3.70 ERA in 15 games (14 starts). After the season, he played in the Arizona Fall League.
Jax began 2019 with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos of the Class AA Southern League with whom he was named an All-Star. While with Pensacola, he missed nearly three weeks due to fatigue. In August, Jax was promoted to the Rochester Red Wings of the Class AAA International League, with whom he finished the season. Over 23 starts between the two clubs, Jax pitched to a 5–7 record with a 2.90 ERA, striking out 94 over 127+1⁄3 innings. Jax did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To begin the 2021 season, he was assigned to the St. Paul Saints of the Triple-A East League.
On June 5, 2021, Jax was selected to the 40-man roster and promoted to the major leagues for the first time. Jax made his MLB debut three days later on June 8th in relief at home against the New York Yankees, becoming the first Air Force Academy graduate in MLB history, (he is still a first lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve).
