Tampa Bay Rays: Yandy Díaz is ‘ready to go!’
Tampa Bay Rays slugger Yandy Diaz was having the best season of his career when something catastrophic happened, he encountered a debilitating hamstring injury.
HIALEAH,FL-I was able to catch up with Tampa Bay Rays slugger Yandy Diaz in training camp last week and we spoke about an array of things. One of them being his recovery from last year’s injury.
2019 started in grand fashion for the young Villa Clara native. Adjustments to his launch angle and stance had him on pace for a career-high in every offensive category.
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At the time of the injury, he has 14 longballs and 38 runs batted in, in only 79 games, but the injury seemed to derail a promising season.
He returned for the playoffs and even blasted two homers off Sean Manaea in a game, but the limp was still there and noticeably hindering him.
He spent the majority of the off-season trying to recover from the injury. I spoke with Diaz about this and this is what he had to say, “during the off-season I didn’t work with many weights due to my injury. I did a lot of resistance training and plenty off jogging to aid my recovery.”
He assured me that he is fully recovered and ready to go, “I feel great and nothing hurts anymore.”
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He has one goal in mind for the upcoming season, “I want to have a full season of health. Everything else I’m putting God’s hands. My hitting and my defense are rounding into form. I’m confident I can be same player I was last year.”
With a lineup that includes Adam Meadows, Yoshi Tsutsugo and Hunter Renfroe hitting around him expect Díaz to have adequate protection and get plenty of good pitches to hit.
With as hard as the third baseman has worked this off-season I wouldn’t bet against him.
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My last question of the day for Tampa Bay Rays slugger Yandy Diaz was a peculiar but one but a very valid one. I asked him if he would ever like to play for Villa Clara again, to which he replied, “I would love to play for Villa Clara again. I would love to finish my career there, hopefully, one day I will be able to play there. This would make everything come full circle.”