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Baysox Slugger Diaz Can Hold His Own With the Big Boys
By Steve Argeris, The Washington Post
The Bowie Baysox' roster lists Juan Diaz as 269 pounds, and even he admits to 295. But the real number may be considerably higher.
"I'd like to play at 285, maybe 275," Diaz said. "They [the Baysox coaches] tell me to lose another 10 pounds. But I never was a base runner. I can do everything the guys who weigh 220 or 230 or 180 do in the field, so I don't know why everybody is stuck on my weight."
Whatever Diaz's heft, the 6-foot-2 first baseman-designated hitter is blasting "some of the longest home runs I have ever seen," said Baysox Manager Dave Trembley, who has seen well more than 2,000 games in his 17-season career.
Diaz went 7 for 20 with three home runs in a five-game stretch this week. He has six home runs and 23 RBI in just 23 games with the team.
"He hit a line drive over the 400-foot mark one time, and he hit one in Akron that must have gone 470 feet," Trembley said. "The guy . . . generates some serious bat speed."
Diaz, 29, joined the Baysox last month after sitting out the spring in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic capital where he has lived since defecting from Cuba as a 22-year-old in 1996 and signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
But the Dodgers, by playing a hand in organizing his defection and then signing him before other teams could scout him for a below-value $65,000 bonus, violated Major League Baseball rules. Declared a free agent in 2000, Diaz signed with Boston for a $400,000 bonus, but was cut after last season, only playing four games in the majors.
The Orioles tabbed Diaz in May after a winter and spring spent "doing nothing" in Santo Domingo with his wife and children.
"I want to play baseball another three or four years," Diaz said. "So I'm just working hard, trying to get into shape."
By Steve Argeris, The Washington Post
The Bowie Baysox' roster lists Juan Diaz as 269 pounds, and even he admits to 295. But the real number may be considerably higher.
"I'd like to play at 285, maybe 275," Diaz said. "They [the Baysox coaches] tell me to lose another 10 pounds. But I never was a base runner. I can do everything the guys who weigh 220 or 230 or 180 do in the field, so I don't know why everybody is stuck on my weight."
Whatever Diaz's heft, the 6-foot-2 first baseman-designated hitter is blasting "some of the longest home runs I have ever seen," said Baysox Manager Dave Trembley, who has seen well more than 2,000 games in his 17-season career.
Diaz went 7 for 20 with three home runs in a five-game stretch this week. He has six home runs and 23 RBI in just 23 games with the team.
"He hit a line drive over the 400-foot mark one time, and he hit one in Akron that must have gone 470 feet," Trembley said. "The guy . . . generates some serious bat speed."
Diaz, 29, joined the Baysox last month after sitting out the spring in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic capital where he has lived since defecting from Cuba as a 22-year-old in 1996 and signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
But the Dodgers, by playing a hand in organizing his defection and then signing him before other teams could scout him for a below-value $65,000 bonus, violated Major League Baseball rules. Declared a free agent in 2000, Diaz signed with Boston for a $400,000 bonus, but was cut after last season, only playing four games in the majors.
The Orioles tabbed Diaz in May after a winter and spring spent "doing nothing" in Santo Domingo with his wife and children.
"I want to play baseball another three or four years," Diaz said. "So I'm just working hard, trying to get into shape."
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