Jose Diaz (minors12)

Jose Alexander Diaz Lezama

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 180 lb.

• Born May 7, 1993 in Ciudad Guayana, Bolívar Venezuela

BR register page

Biographical Information

Jose Diaz has pitched in the Dominican Republic, USA, Venezuela and Croatia.

Diaz was signed by Miami Marlins scouts Wilmer Castillo and Albert Gonzalez in March 2012. He was 2-2 with two saves and a 2.84 ERA that summer for the DSL Marlins. In 2013, he improved to 4-2, 1.95 with one save. He fell to 1-5, 4.48 in his third stint with the team, in 2014. He split 2015 between the GCL Marlins 93-2, 4.06), Batavia Muckdogs (4 R in 1 IP), Greensboro Grasshoppers (0-1, 3 R, 2 ER in 1 IP) and Jupiter Hammerheads (1.69 ERA in 2 G). In 2016, he was 0-7 with a 6.51 ERA for Batavia. He tied for second in the New York-Penn League in losses, one behind Gabriel Llanes. That ended his time in the Marlins chain at 10-19, 4.09 with 3 saves in 72 games (37 starts). With the Leones del Caracas in the 2016-2017 Venezuelan Winter League, he allowed one hit and one walk in 1/3 inning (a strikeout).

He signed with Croatia's Olimpija Karlovac for 2018. He was 0-2 with a 4.85 ERA in the 2018 CEB Cup, though he struck out 19 in 13 innings. Only Pavao Karin had a lower ERA for last-place Karlovac. He lost to the host Arrows Ostrava, then took the defeat in the 7th/8th place game against Ukraine's Biotechkomanda KNTU. Additionally, he played short, second and left. He hit .333/.421/.800 with two homers and six RBI in four games but fielded only .737 with five errors. While the slugging looks impressive, it was only third on Croatia. He was 10th in the event in slugging, tied for third in homers (behind Terrell Joyce and Slobodan Gales), tied for 9th in RBI, tied for first in losses (with teammate Justin Olic), 3rd in Ks (behind former major leaguer Romulo Sanchez's 23 and Riley Barr's 21), led in wild pitches (4) and was second to Vlastimir Arandelovic in errors.

Diaz moved to Vindija Varadzin, also in Croatia, for 2019. He twice saved the team from getting no-hit in the 2019 CEB Cup, with their only hits off Heidenheim Heideköpfe's Luke Sommer and Minsk's Kiryl Kazlouski. He also went 10 innings and fanned 16 (5 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 0 BB), throwing 155 pitches, in a loss to Tobias Siegrist and the Zurich Challengers. He also hit their only homer, off Ukraine's Kostiantyn Chukhas. He tied for 2nd in the Cup in homers (one behind Gary Owens), was 8th in ERA (between Yorfrank López and James Sanders), was 4th in opponent average (.139, between Kazlouski and Ondřej Furko), ranked 3rd in IP (behind Sanders and Jonathan Mottay) and led in Ks (3 ahead of Furfko).

By this point, he had apparently obtained Croatian citizenship as he pitched for the Croatian national team in the 2019 European Championship. He started against Belgium and went seven innings (4 H, 5 BB, 9 K, 5 R, 5 ER); Antonio Horvatić took over and could not hold on. He put up nearly identical numbers against Great Britain (7 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 7 K) before Karin relieved. He took the loss as former major leaguer Michael Roth was turning in a gem. Due to an error, the stats against Britain don't show up in the final stats for the event. Adding them in ties him for Cedric Desmedt and Christian Tomsich for 3rd in IP and tying Alex Webb for the most Ks.