Air Force Professional Athletes

Griffin Jax gave Air Force alumni something to celebrate this week, delivering one of his sharpest outings of the 2026 season as the Tampa Bay Rays pushed deeper into AL East title contention.

The right-hander took the ball Sunday, September 20, against the Boston Red Sox and answered with five shutout innings, punching out five batters and earning his eighth win of the year as Tampa Bay rolled to a 5-1 victory. Chandler Simpson and Johnny DeLuca each drove in two runs to give Jax all the cushion he needed, but it was the Air Force product who set the tone from the first pitch. With an ERA sitting at 3.62 on the season, Jax has been exactly what a contending rotation needs late in September — a reliable arm who doesn't beat himself.

The Rays entered the week in striking distance of the AL East division title, and wins like Sunday's are precisely why Tampa Bay can dare to think banner thoughts. Jax was slated to start the series finale against Boston as well, per pregame reporting — a sign of just how much the organization trusts him in high-leverage spots down the stretch.

His Saturday outing against Philadelphia on September 26 was shorter — three innings in a 12-1 blowout — but the ERA held at 3.53, a testament to how consistent Jax has been across the full season.

On the Farm

The other Air Force name worth tracking in MLB circles is Sam Kulasingam, the 25-year-old utility man in the Kansas City Royals system. A recent Sports Illustrated profile highlighted what has defined his professional career to this point: consistency across every level he's touched. Kulasingam hasn't forced his way onto a major league roster yet, but the scouting narrative around him is one of steady, unspectacular production — exactly the profile that tends to age well in organizational depth charts.

No stats from a big-league cup of coffee to report this week, but Kulasingam's name is one Air Force fans should keep filed away as the Royals evaluate their 40-man roster ahead of the offseason.

The Bottom Line

Jax is the story, full stop. A mid-rotation starter who has quietly assembled a quality season now has eight wins, a sub-3.55 ERA, and a reputation as a go-to arm in the Rays' most important series of the year. For a program like Air Force — not exactly a traditional MLB pipeline — having a starter performing at this level in a pennant race is a legitimate point of pride. The Falcon on the mound in Tampa matters this September.

Air Force's most prominent MLB alumnus made his case for one of the week's best pitching performances, and he did it in style.

Griffin Jax turned in a commanding outing on Tuesday, September 15, striking out seven batters over five innings as the Tampa Bay Rays edged the Oakland Athletics 2-1 in walk-off fashion. Jax held the Athletics in check throughout his time on the mound, keeping Tampa Bay in a tight contest that ultimately came down to one swing — and a dramatic one at that. Junior Caminero delivered the decisive blow with a walk-off home run, his second in the span of four games, capping off a night that Jax largely authored.

The performance pushed Jax's ERA to 3.80 on the season, and it's the kind of start that underscores what the Falcon made of his path from Colorado Springs to the big leagues. Air Force isn't traditionally a pipeline to professional baseball, which makes Jax's sustained success at the MLB level all the more striking. Seven strikeouts in five innings against a major league lineup isn't a curiosity — it's a legitimate ace-caliber line.

The other two active Air Force alumni in the majors — Sam Kulasingam (Royals, 1B) and Jay Thomason (Twins, 3B) — did not generate notable activity in the September 13–19 window covered by this report.

For Air Force fans, Jax remains the program's flagship professional baseball story, and weeks like this one are exactly why.