Yandy Diaz: In Tampa along came a spider

Tampa Bay Rays infielder Yandy Diaz is a second-generation baseball player; his father Jorge “the Spider ” Diaz was a fringe Cuban national team player.

Tampa Bay Rays infielder Yandy Diaz is a second-generation baseball player, his father Jorge “the Spider ” Diaz was a fringe Cuban national team player and integral part of the Villa Clara Sugar farmers, a storied franchise in the Cuban National Series.

Díaz signed with Cleveland in 2013 as an international free agent. The following year he made his minor league debut with the Carolina Mudcats hitting .286 with two big flies and 37 runs batted in.

In his second minor league season which was spent between Akron (AA) and Columbus (AAA) hit a combined .309 with 7 round-trippers and 56 RBI’s, to impress the Cleveland hierarchy.

More from Call to the Pen

• Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
• Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
• Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
• Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
• 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals

For Díaz 2016 was a breakout year, he hit .318 and was named the International League rookie of the year. He also earned a spot in the Futures Game.

The young Cuban was the sensation of spring training in 2017 hitting an impressive .458 and posting a 1.252 OPS to earn the start at third base to open the campaign.

Yandi Díaz spent the season between Columbus and the big club when he came up in second half of the season after a short stint in AAA he hit a blistering .304 with 13 RBI’s and was a big contributor in the Indian’s 21 game win streak that year, but he was inexplicably left off the playoff roster.

In 2018 he had a terrible spring and started the season in the minors to his dismay and dissatisfaction he said, “The demotion frustrated me a little, but I used it as motivation. I was a little upset but I kept at it and earned my way back to the big club.”

The young Cuban took out his frustrations on International League pitching hosting .293, in his first game back in the Majors he had three hits, during the season he managed to clout the first big fly of his career.

During the 2018 MLB season, Yandy was shown a new position, a third baseman by trade, he decided to learn first base to help the ball club and his countrymen Yonder Alonso was there to assist him in his transition

”Having Yonder here was a Godsend, he gave many tips on how to play the position that I was able to apply during games,” Yandy Diaz would say.

“The key to being a good defensive first baseman is to work on your craft every day tirelessly and everything will fall into place from there,” Also advised him. Yonder’s advice and hard work paid off because Díaz didn’t make in error and had a fielding percentage of 1.000 for the season at the position.

Closing the season, Díaz thought that he might have finally played himself into Cleveland’s plans.

Although he played himself into Cleveland’s plans he was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2018 MLB offseason in a three-way trade that brought Carlos Santana back to the tribe. This opened up a big opportunity for the native of Santa Clara and he was penciled in at number one spot on the Rays’ depth chart at third base.

The 2019 season started off with a bang. Adjustments to his swing gave him a better launch angle and added more pop to his swing.

A season that was derailed and ended by a lower extremity, injury saw the young Cuban go yard 14 times and drive in 38 runs in only 79 games.

In 2020, a fully recovered Diaz is looking to make a bigger contribution, especially with the additions of Hunter Renfroe and former Japanese star Yoshitomo Tsutsugo. These two acquisitions will provide protection in the lineup for the young slugger.

Even with the rebuilding and reeling Red Sox in tow, the Tampa Bay Rays and Yandy Diaz are still looking to make waves with a revamped lineup and strong pitching staff in a strong AL East.