Diaz finding success with Yankees' double-A Somerset Patriots
North Shore Twins and Coquitlam Reds alum Indigo Diaz (North Vancouver, B.C.) is pitching for the New York Yankees’ double-A Somerset Patriots. Photo: Baseball Canada
May 16, 2023
By Tyson Shushkewich
Canadian Baseball Network
Hailing from North Vancouver, B.C., Indigo Diaz entered the 2023 season with three years of professional baseball under his belt.
Selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 27th round of the 2019 MLB Draft, the North Shore Twins and Coquitlam Reds alum spent two years at Iowa Western Community College before taking his talents to Michigan State in the Big Ten Conference, where the right-hander would make 25 appearances (four starts). Through 44 innings, Diaz posted a 5.73 ERA with 29 walks, 51 strikeouts, and held opponents to a .249 batting average with a team-high seven saves on the year.
While Diaz got a taste of pro baseball after the draft within the Gulf Coast League to round out 2019, the 2020 campaign was shut down due to COVID-19, meaning the 6-foot-5 Canadian would have to wait another year to showcase his talents.
Once the minor league season opened back up in 2021, Diaz split the year between High-A and double-A, amassing a 1.20 ERA through 32 relief appearances and 45 innings with five saves, racking up a 0.822 WHIP with a 16.6 K/9.
To begin the 2022 season, Diaz was invited to big league spring training and saw 1 2/3 innings of work, allowing two earned runs on four hits through the limited sample size. Once spring was over, the reliever spent all of the 2022 campaign in double-A, making 49 appearances to the tune of a 3.08 ERA.
This past offseason, Diaz found himself packing his bags for New York, as the Braves traded for reliever Lucas Luetge and sent the B.C. product and fellow prospect Caleb Durbin to the Yankees.
Similar to last season, Diaz got a small taste of big league spring training, making one appearance for the Bronx Bombers but also spent time with Team Canada at the World Baseball Classic, where he would make two relief appearances and allow just one run (via a solo home run) through 3 1/3 innings with four strikeouts against experienced batters in the United States and Mexico.
Following the WBC, Diaz returned to double-A and joined the Somerset Patriots in the Eastern League for his first year in the Yankees organization. Joining a squad lined with talented prospects such as Austin Wells, Anthony Siegler, and Jasson Dominguez, Diaz is holding his own and standing out in the Patriots’ bullpen, pitching to a 1.26 ERA through 10 relief appearances.
He currently owns an 11.3 K/9 and has two or more strikeouts in his last three outings but has been struggling with his command all season long, allowing 10 walks through 14 1/3 innings, which stands at a 6.3 BB/9. The free passes were also an issue for the right-hander last year (5.6 BB/9) but he seems to find a way to keep the runs off the board, allowing just two earned runs on 13 hits.
Armed with a mid-90s fastball, a plus slider, and a changeup, Diaz has found himself in high-pressure situations for most of his career and the Patriots are using him in the same manner, with six of those outings being in the seventh inning or later.
Looking ahead, the 24-year-old North Vancouver product is certainly on his way to earning reps in Triple-A this season but that promotion will depend on whether he can reign in the walks, as his arm has proven that it can create some swing and miss on the mound. If he can continue to keep runs off the board and keep finding the strike zone, a move to Scranton Wilkes-Barre is certainly in the near future.