What years did Grant Balfour play?

Grant Balfour played in Major League Baseball from 2001 to 2015.

Was Grant Balfour a pitcher?

Yes. Grant Balfour pitched in the major leagues, recording 30 wins and 571 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Grant Balfour hit?

Grant Balfour hit 0 career home runs.

What teams did Grant Balfour play for?

Grant Balfour played for 4 teams: the Minnesota Twins (2001, 2003–2004), the Milwaukee Brewers (2007), the Tampa Bay Rays (2007–2010, 2014–2015), and the Oakland Athletics (2011–2013).

Did Grant Balfour win a Cy Young Award?

No. Grant Balfour did not win the Cy Young Award.

What awards did Grant Balfour win?

Grant Balfour was selected to 1 All-Star Game.

What were Grant Balfour's career stats?

In 534 games, Grant Balfour went 30-23 with a 3.49 ERA, 571 strikeouts, 539.2 innings pitched, and 84 saves.

What was Grant Balfour's salary?

Grant Balfour's last recorded salary was $4,000,000, in 2014. His highest recorded salary was $4,500,000, in 2013, and his lowest was $330,000, in 2005. The Salary History table lists each season from 2005 to 2014.

What position did Grant Balfour play?

Grant Balfour played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.

How tall was Grant Balfour and how much did he weigh?

Grant Balfour was listed at 6 feet 2 inches and 200 pounds.

What was Grant Balfour's career ERA?

Grant Balfour finished with a 3.49 career ERA, going 30-23 with 571 strikeouts.

How many strikeouts did Grant Balfour have?

Grant Balfour recorded 571 career strikeouts.

Is Grant Balfour in the Hall of Fame?

No. Grant Balfour has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Grant Balfour

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (2001-2015)

Grant Balfour was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 2001 to 2015 for 4 teams, including the Minnesota Twins, a span of 15 seasons. Across 534 career appearances, he went 30-23 with a 3.49 ERA, 571 strikeouts, and 84 saves. Grant Balfour was an All-Star. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 9428.4.

W (Wins):: Games credited to a pitcher whose team took a lead it never surrendered while he was the pitcher of record.
ERA (Earned Run Average):: Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched: (ER × 9) ÷ IP. The primary measure of pitching effectiveness.
SO (Strikeouts):: For a batter, times retired on a third strike; for a pitcher, batters retired on a third strike.
WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched):: Baserunners allowed per inning: (BB + H) ÷ IP. Under 1.00 is elite.

Data updated October 15, 2026

W–L 30–23

ERA 3.49

WHIP 1.22

SO 571

Pitcher PIV 9428.4

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'2" / 200 lb
Born: 12/30/1977 in Sydney, NSW, Australia
MLB Debut: 2001-07-22
Last Game: 2015-04-18
Awards: All-Star

Full name: Grant Robert Balfour

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Career Pitching Statistics

Grant Balfour — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
30	23	534	1	0	0	84	539.2	406	209	47	252	571	3.49	9428.4

Career ERA 3.49 vs. league average 4.17 across their career seasons — 16.3% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Grant Balfour Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
2001	MIN	AL	0	0	2	0	0	2.2	3	4	3	2	13.50	—	0.0
2003	MIN	AL	1	0	17	1	0	26.0	23	12	14	30	4.15	4.40 (+6%)	39.5
2004	MIN	AL	4	1	36	0	0	39.1	35	19	21	42	4.35	4.46 (+3%)	470.6
2007	MIL	NL	0	2	3	0	0	2.2	4	6	4	3	20.25	—	0.0
2007	TBA	AL	1	0	22	0	0	22.0	26	15	16	27	6.14	4.47 (-37%)	505.7
2008	TBA	AL	6	2	51	0	4	58.1	28	10	24	82	1.54	4.32 (+64%)	3099.8
2009	TBA	AL	5	4	73	0	4	67.1	59	36	33	69	4.81	4.32 (-11%)	949.5
2010	TBA	AL	2	1	57	0	0	55.1	43	14	17	56	2.28	4.08 (+44%)	1956.4
2011	OAK	AL	5	2	62	0	2	62.0	44	17	20	59	2.47	3.94 (+37%)	274.9
2012	OAK	AL	3	2	75	0	24	74.2	41	21	28	72	2.53	4.01 (+37%)	1870.5
2013	OAK	AL	1	3	65	0	38	62.2	48	18	27	72	2.59	3.87 (+33%)	588.4
2014	TBA	AL	2	6	65	0	12	62.1	49	34	41	57	4.91	3.74 (-31%)	-326.9
2015	TBA	AL	0	0	6	0	0	4.1	3	3	4	0	6.23	—	0.0
Career · 13 seasons			30	23	534	1	84	539.2	406	209	252	571	3.49	—	9,428

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Career Batting Statistics

Grant Balfour — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
534	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	0

Career AVG .000 vs. league average .260 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Career OBP .000 vs. league average .326 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Career SLG .000 vs. league average .411 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Career OPS .000 vs. league average .737 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Grant Balfour Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
2001	MIN	AL	2	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2003	MIN	AL	17	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2004	MIN	AL	36	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2007	MIL	NL	3	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2007	TBA	AL	22	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2008	TBA	AL	51	1	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2009	TBA	AL	73	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2010	TBA	AL	57	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2011	OAK	AL	62	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2012	OAK	AL	75	1	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2013	OAK	AL	65	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2014	TBA	AL	65	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2015	TBA	AL	6	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 13 seasons			534	2	2	.000	—	—	—	—	0

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Grant Balfour — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Grant Balfour — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AVG
2013	ALDS2	OAK	3	.000
2012	ALDS2	OAK	2	.000
2010	ALDS1	TBA	3	.000
2008	ALCS	TBA	4	.000
2008	ALDS2	TBA	3	.000
2008	WS	TBA	3	.000
2004	ALDS2	MIN	2	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Grant Balfour — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1	1	20	0	2	19.2	16	7	10	15	3.20

Playoff Pitching by Year

Grant Balfour — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
2013	ALDS2	OAK	1	0	3	1	3.0	0	0	1	3	0.00
2012	ALDS2	OAK	0	1	2	1	1.2	3	1	1	2	5.40
2010	ALDS1	TBA	0	0	3	0	3.2	2	0	0	1	0.00
2008	ALCS	TBA	0	0	4	0	2.1	5	5	4	1	19.29
2008	ALDS2	TBA	0	0	3	0	3.1	2	0	1	4	0.00
2008	WS	TBA	0	0	3	0	3.0	4	1	3	2	3.00
2004	ALDS2	MIN	0	0	2	0	2.2	0	0	0	2	0.00

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1068 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Grant Balfour — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	268	0	0	0	0	0	—
Away	266	2	0	0	0	0	.000

Pitching — Home / Away

Grant Balfour — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	268	284.2	201	93	115	312	2.94
Away	266	255.0	205	116	137	259	4.09

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Grant Balfour — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
2015-04-18	TBR	NYY	—	0.2	1	3	3	3	0	1
2015-04-15	TBR	TOR	—	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2015-04-14	TBR	TOR	—	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2015-04-10	TBR	MIA	—	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0
2015-04-07	TBR	BAL	—	0.1	1	0	0	1	0	0
2015-04-06	TBR	BAL	—	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0
2014-09-27	TBR	CLE	—	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0
2014-09-25	TBR	BOS	—	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0
2014-09-23	TBR	BOS	—	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0
2014-09-20	TBR	CHW	—	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Grant Balfour — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	534	1	17	45	1	3

Season-by-Season Fielding

Grant Balfour — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
2001	MIN	P	2	0	0	1	0	0
2003	MIN	P	17	1	0	4	0	0
2004	MIN	P	36	0	3	4	0	0
2007	MIL	P	3	0	0	0	0	0
2007	TBA	P	22	0	1	5	0	0
2008	TBA	P	51	0	0	5	0	0
2009	TBA	P	73	0	1	3	0	1
2010	TBA	P	57	0	2	2	0	0
2011	OAK	P	62	0	2	4	0	1
2012	OAK	P	75	0	6	7	0	0
2013	OAK	P	65	0	1	5	1	1
2014	TBA	P	65	0	1	5	0	0
2015	TBA	P	6	0	0	0	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Grant Balfour Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	534

Salary History

Grant Balfour's recorded salaries total $20,370,000 over 8 seasons, 2005 to 2014. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Balfour's career ran from 2001 to 2015. No salary is recorded for 6 of his seasons between 1985 and 2016.

Grant Balfour — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
2014	TBA	AL	$4,000,000
2013	OAK	AL	$4,500,000
2012	OAK	AL	$4,000,000
2011	OAK	AL	$3,750,000
2010	TBA	AL	$2,050,000
2009	TBA	AL	$1,400,000
2006	CIN	NL	$340,000
2005	MIN	AL	$330,000
Total recorded salary (partial)			$20,370,000

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Grant Balfour (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Grant Balfour: the record in brief

According to the bio, Grant Balfour debuted on July 22, 2001 and played a final game on April 18, 2015. By club, Balfour's seasons break down as the Minnesota Twins (2001 through 2004), the Milwaukee Brewers (2007), the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2007), the Tampa Bay Rays (2008 through 2015), and the Oakland Athletics (2011 to 2013). Balfour, born on December 30, 1977, in Sydney, NSW, Australia, is listed as a pitcher and batted and threw right-handed. Size on record: 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds. On the record, Grant Balfour was born Grant Robert Balfour.

Across 534 games (1 starts), Balfour recorded 30 wins against 23 losses with a 3.49 ERA. Balfour had 571 strikeouts and 84 saves. The leagues Balfour pitched in allowed 4.17 earned runs per nine over those seasons, so the career ERA was 16.3% better than average. 2008 brought Balfour a season-high 6 wins. The most saves in one season was 38, in 2013. 2008 was Balfour's sharpest full season, a 1.54 ERA against the league's 4.32.

Frequently Asked Questions about Grant Balfour

What years did Grant Balfour play?: Grant Balfour played in Major League Baseball from 2001 to 2015.
Was Grant Balfour a pitcher?: Yes. Grant Balfour pitched in the major leagues, recording 30 wins and 571 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Grant Balfour hit?: Grant Balfour hit 0 career home runs.
What teams did Grant Balfour play for?: Grant Balfour played for 4 teams: the Minnesota Twins (2001, 2003–2004), the Milwaukee Brewers (2007), the Tampa Bay Rays (2007–2010, 2014–2015), and the Oakland Athletics (2011–2013).
Did Grant Balfour win a Cy Young Award?: No. Grant Balfour did not win the Cy Young Award.
What awards did Grant Balfour win?: Grant Balfour was selected to 1 All-Star Game.
What were Grant Balfour's career stats?: In 534 games, Grant Balfour went 30-23 with a 3.49 ERA, 571 strikeouts, 539.2 innings pitched, and 84 saves.
How much did Grant Balfour earn in his career?: Grant Balfour's recorded salaries total $20,370,000 over 8 seasons, 2005 to 2014. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Balfour's career ran from 2001 to 2015. No salary is recorded for 6 of his seasons between 1985 and 2016.
What was Grant Balfour's salary?: Grant Balfour's last recorded salary was $4,000,000, in 2014. His highest recorded salary was $4,500,000, in 2013, and his lowest was $330,000, in 2005. The Salary History table lists each season from 2005 to 2014.
What position did Grant Balfour play?: Grant Balfour played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was Grant Balfour and how much did he weigh?: Grant Balfour was listed at 6 feet 2 inches and 200 pounds.
What was Grant Balfour's career ERA?: Grant Balfour finished with a 3.49 career ERA, going 30-23 with 571 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did Grant Balfour have?: Grant Balfour recorded 571 career strikeouts.
Is Grant Balfour in the Hall of Fame?: No. Grant Balfour has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.