Former Blue Jays who will be in the World Series later today

While the Toronto Blue Jays came up short in their bid of making the postseason, there has been no shortage of former players making up various rosters across playoff teams this year.

Ranging from Rowdy Tellez on the Milwaukee Brewers all the way to Billy McKinney and David Price on the Los Angeles Dodgers, there always seems to be a player or two who makes an appearance that has Jays fans saying, “Hey, remember when he was on our side?”.

That being said, there will be some former Blue Jays suiting up in the World Series tonight when the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros face-off, so let’s take a look at who those players are and how they fared when they spent half their time North of the lower 48.

*For the purpose of this article, I will be using the appropriate NLCS and ALCS rosters as a guideline since the official World Series rosters have yet to be announced at the writing of this article*

Atlanta Braves

Travis d’Arnaud – Catcher

Acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies as part of the Roy Halladay trade back in 2010, Travis d’Arnaud was in the Blue Jays farm system for three seasons before he was traded to the New York Mets as part of the package deal to bring R.A. Dickey to Toronto.

One of the club’s top prospects at the time, d’Arnaud was playing well in the minor leagues, slashing .311/.371/.542 with the AA Fisher Cats in 2011 and then posting a .975 OPS with Las Vegas in AAA the following campaign. While he struggled to live up to the expectations in New York City, he made stops in both Tampa Bay and the Los Angeles Dodgers before arriving in Atlanta prior to the 2020 season.

While the Blue Jays fell short of the postseason this year, they will have some former players in the World Series later today on both sides of the diamond.

Houston Astros

Aledmys Diaz – Infielder

Acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals during the 2017/2018 offseason, infielder Aledmys Diaz spent one season in Toronto, putting up pretty respectable numbers in a year that saw many veteran players exiting the organization and a rebuild fully taking place.

He would play in 130 games, splitting his time between shortstop and third base, and would finish the season with a .263/.303/.453 slash line along with 18 home runs, 55 RBI, and a .756 OPS. The 18 round-trippers is a career-high for the righty batter to this day, as the Cuban product would be sent to the Houston Astros the following offseason in exchange for pitcher Trent Thornton.

Kendall Graveman – RHP

Drafted by the Blue Jays in the 8th round of the 2013 MLB draft, Kendall Graveman spent two seasons in the club’s minor league system before being called up in September when the rosters expanded. He would appear in five games for the Blue Jays in 2014, giving up two earned runs through 4.2 innings on his way to a 3.86 ERA with four strikeouts.

Graveman would be traded to the Oakland Athletics as part of the Josh Donaldson package the following offseason and has since moved from being a back of the rotation starter and is now considered an effective reliever.

Jesse Chavez – RHP

A veteran pitcher who has been around the block a few times, right-hander Jesse Chavez has been with the Blue Jays on two separate occasions, first in 2012 and then in 2016 for another go. As a member of the Jays, Chavez sports a 5.89 ERA through 48 outings (two starts) with 20 walks, 69 strikeouts, and a 1.404 WHIP through 62.2 innings of work.