Jordan

Diaz

It’s surprising no one wanted to take a shot on a 23-year-old with some pretty good minor league numbers, but Diaz never has settled into a position and conditioning issues became a factor in his downfall with the A’s. Hopefully, he’ll earn another look at some point.

Diaz played in 90 games for Oakland in 2023 but did not make the club out of spring and was hitting just .204/.288/.327 in 29 games in Triple-A with two home runs. He doesn’t play strong enough defense at any position, so he will always need to hit above league average in order to crack an MLB roster. Considering he’s only 23 years old, he figures to get a shot with another club but he needs to improve his defense and conditioning if he is to become an MLB regular.

It’s a large batch of cuts, and there’s definitely some talent mixed in there, but no one who was truly expected to crack the team’s Opening Day roster. Jordan Diaz saw significant time with the A’s during the 2023 season and he’ll surely get another chance at some point in 2024. Estes is somewhat surprising, as he was absolutely dealing in Cactus League play — posting a 1.29 ERA, 0.43 WHIP and an 8/1 K/BB ratio across seven innings in his three outings.

After being held off the board completely through the first six inning, Diaz finally broke through and delivered a run-scoring single off of Chris Bassitt in the seventh inning — pulling the A’s to within five runs at 6-1. That would be his only hit in four at-bats in the contest. On the season, the 23-year-old rookie infielder is slashing .241/.297/.409 with 10 homers and 25 RBI in 239 plate appearances on the season.

Diaz enjoyed his second three-hit day in his last three contests and reached base in four of his five plate appearances. He drew a walk in the second inning and knocked a base hit in the fourth. Diaz doubled in the fifth, then later drove in a run with his second double in the seventh. The 23-year-old infielder is hitting .246/.305/.411 with nine homers and 23 RBI across 226 plate appearances.

Diaz seems to have found a home at third base with Jace Peterson gone, and his .248/.301/.440 line in 153 plate appearances is pretty good for someone playing half of his games in Oakland, especially for someone still a week away from turning 23 years old. The homer tonight was just his second in a home game. His road OPS is about 150 points higher than his mark in Oakland (.810 to .655).

Diaz went 0-for-1 with a strikeout before being lifted from the contest. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for the moment. Unfortunately, Oakland wasn’t able to get anything going offensively on Monday evening, striking out a staggering 18 times in a one-hit shutout at the hands of the Red Sox.

The 22-year-old rookie infielder tagged Twins’ right-hander Joe Ryan for his two-out, 381-foot (103.1 mph EV) solo shot in the second inning, giving the A’s an early 1-0 edge. He also added a sacrifice fly in the second inning to make it a 2-0 ballgame. Diaz finished the afternoon 1-for-2 and is now hitting .240/.267/.430 with six homers and 15 RBI in 105 plate appearances with the big league club this season.

Diaz singled in the opening inning and rode home on Ryan Noda’s two-run blast. He then smacked a one-out single off of Eduardo Rodriguez in the third inning and dashed around to score on an RBI double by Aledmys Diaz. The 22-year-old then crushed a 376-foot two-run shot off of Zach Logue in the eighth inning, making it a 12-0 ballgame. On the season, he’s now hitting .241/.276/.434 with five homers and 10 RBI.

No word yet on the corresponding move, but Diaz is with the club in Oakland and expected to be in the team’s starting lineup for Friday night’s showdown against the White Sox. The 22-year-old has hit just .217/.250/.406 with four homers and eight RBI in 72 plate appearances with the big league club this season.