Miguel Diaz will make his fourth career start for Padres

The San Diego Padres, in need of pitching help, will start Miguel Diaz against the Pirates. 

Miguel Diaz will be called to make his fourth career big league start on Monday.

Diaz, who has been in the San Diego Padres’ organization for five years, was originally signed as an international free agent in 2011 with the Milwaukee Brewers.

The right-handed pitcher spent five years in the Brewers’ organization before being claimed off waivers by the Minnesota Twins in 2016. The Minnesota Twins eventually traded Diaz to the San Diego Padres for pitcher Justin Haley.

Since being in the Padres organization, Diaz appeared in 47 big league games and made three starts for San Diego. The pitcher has two wins and one loss while posting a career 6.62 earned run average (ERA) in 66 and two-thirds innings.

Diaz last appeared with the Padres in 2019 against the Colorado Rockies in an extra-inning 16-12 Padre win where he pitched two and a third innings of relief, giving up five runs on five hits with a walk.

While in the minor leagues, he was asked to improve command, mechanical flaws, and longevity to become a starter. In 109 career minor league appearances, Diaz owns a 3.48 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP in 354 innings of work. Diaz started 56 games in the minor leagues, but only four of the starts were quality starts.

Diaz has mostly been used as a long reliever in the big leagues. The Padres have dealt with injuries and uncertainty with Chris Paddack, Ryan Weathers, and Dinelson Lamet. Weathers and Lamet are hopeful to start Tuesday against the Padres. MacKenzie Gore, who is assigned to the minor leagues, could also be an option in the future.

Tingler informed the media after the game on Lamet and Weathers’ status, “Both of them were pretty aggressive with their bullpens today and came out reporting feeling well. We think that is a good step for both guys, and we will see how they respond tomorrow and kinda go from there,” Tingler said. 

Jayce Tingler also spoke on the Padres’ pitching depth. “The main thing is, we will call him (Gore) up when the organization feels like we are on a roll and ready to go. My guess is we are going to need him at some point this year, as we are going to need other guys. We are not going to force anything, we are not going to rush anything, we have guys that are prepared and believe that can get the job done, and we are going to do what’s right for our young players,” Tingler explained. 

Lastly, the Padres manager discussed the upcoming Pittsburgh Pirates series. “We are going to have a hard-fought three-game set against Pittsburgh. It was back-and-forth over at their place for a four-game set. If we can get through these three games, the hope is whether it is Lamet, Weathers, or Paddack getting back into the flow of things; I think these are things we anticipated. You never want them to happen. You kind of look around the league right now. Just reading MLB news, it feels Like guys are dropping like flies all across the board, certainly on the pitching side. It is something we are aware of. Our guys have done a great job taking care of themselves so far. But at the same time, we understand there are going to be challenges. We are going to have guys ready to go. Tomorrow is a great opportunity for Miguel (Diaz) to come in and give us some quality innings and hopefully a quality start,” Tingler said.

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Miguel Diaz has the opportunity to help the Padres by eating up innings on Monday. The pitcher is yet another example of how deep the Padres’ pitching depth is. Diaz will face Tyler Anderson and the fourth-place Pittsburgh Pirates, who are presently on a four-game losing streak.

Miguel Gonzalez