After Kansas City Royals fans were fixated on Jac Caglianone in Monday’s Home Run Derby, they’ll surely shift their focus to their duo of current representatives in the All-Star Game on Tuesday in Bobby Witt Jr. and Michael Wacha. And they’ve given fans plenty to be excited about this season, Witt is in the thick of MVP conversations with an AL-leading 4.8 fWAR and Michael Wacha continues to stave off old-age as he’s in the midst of potentially his fifth-straight sub-4.00 ERA season.
However, as exciting as it is to have a pair of current names in the Midsummer Classic, there’s a pair of former Royals who are right alongside them.
Joining the Witt and Wacha on the American League side of things is now Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman. Then, on the National League side of things is Foster Griffin, who’s been excellent in his return to MLB with the Washington Nationals after dominating in Japan.
This is Chapman’s ninth career All-Star nod and marks back-to-back appearances for him for the the first time since 2018 and 2019. This comes off the back of 2.20 ERA with 11.30 K/9 and 19 saves.
For Griffin, this is his first All-Star nod and rather some career vindication after underperforming in his first taste of big league ball as a former first-round pick. This season as a member of the Nationals’ rotation, Griffin is throwing to a 2.77 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and .209 BAA in 19 starts.
Aroldis Chapman is best known by Royals fans for his trade deadline deal to Texas
Chapman’s time in Kansas City was limited to just a half season back in 2023, but the fireballer certainly made his presence known in such a short time. In 29.1 innings across 31 outings, Chapman threw to a 2.45 ERA, 1.69 FIP and 16.26 K/9.
His strikeout numbers rivaled his glory days with the New York Yankees between 2018 and 2020, while his ERA with Kansas City was his best total since those days too.
This led him to be a trade deadline commodity that the Texas Rangers took full advantage of that summer. They sent him to the Lone Star State in which he ended up being a key member of their World Series winning bullpen, while the Royals brought in their ace in Cole Ragans. While Ragans might be facing major injury woes, there’s no denying that for a veteran reliever, getting a young controllable ace was a smart investment for Kansas City.
Foster Griffin’s career has taken complete 180-degree turn since failed prospect days
As much potential as Griffin had in the Royals minor league system, the fact remains it never carried over the major leagues. He threw just 1.2 innings in the COVID-shortened 2020 season and then just 4.1 innings in 2022 before being traded to the Blue Jays where he briefly resided as well before heading for Japan in 2023.
He may’ve been able to muster a 3.81 ERA across multiple stops on the minors in 2021 as well as a 1.93 ERA in Triple-A Omaha in 2022, but it’s clear neither of those numbers really resulted in success with the Royals. Many may point to his control, as when called upon to play in the majors in his most recent stint before this season back in 2022, he posted 8.31 BB/9 with Kansas City and 4.50 BB/9 in Toronto.
Griffin, however, returned to the majors a different arm after his time in Japan following a 2.75 ERA in 2023, 3.01 ERA in 2024 and 1.62 ERA in 2025 with the Yomiuri Giants, as he’s been a revelation in the Nationals rotation.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kingsofkauffman.com ’
