Skip to main content

Prospect Nation 2012: #18 LHP Jake Diekman

Lefty reliever Jake Diekman raised his value a considerable amount in 2011. The 6-foot-4-inch 190-pounder was fresh off a dismal effort in the Arizona Fall League, over the off-season, when a revised focus and some simple adjustments to his loosening efforts breathed new life into the young hurler's pro career.

After struggling in the Arizona Fall League in 2010, when he allowed 12 earned runs in 3 2/3 innings over 5 outings, Diekman refocused his approach on the mound. Diekman entered the 2011 season with a goal of throwing all his pitches for strikes and getting into a hitter's mentality in order to mix up his approach toward the opposition. That approach helped the Phillies' 30th round draft choice from 2007 compete against hitters at the higher levels of the minors.

The 25-year-old Diekman sports a pitch repertoire that includes a fastball, a slider and a change up. In 2011, the Nebraska native added a couple notches of velocity after receiving advice from former Williamsport pitching coach Lance Carter, in spring training. The tip, lowering his arm angle when playing long toss, landed Diekman's fastball at 95 MPH on a regular basis. The increased speed helped Diekman in match ups against opposing batters, as he saw his K/9 rate shoot up from 9.05 in 2010 to 11.49 in 2011.

Overall, as a member of the Double-A Reading Phillies in 2011, Diekman had a strong season, posting a 0-1 record with 3 saves, a 3.05 ERA and a .199 batting average against in 53 games.

As a member of the 2009 South Atlantic League champion Class A Lakewood BlueClaws, Diekman sported a 2-0 record with a 4.04 ERA and a .266 batting average against in 32 games (2 starts). The following year, Diekman began the season back with Lakewood and was promoted to Class A Advanced Clearwater after going 2-0 with a 1.90 ERA and a .178 BAA in 21 relief outings. After his move upward in 2010, Diekman went 0-2 with a 3.66 and a .195 BAA ERA in 24 games.

As further evidence of his improvements as a pro recently, across three levels in his first two professional seasons, Diekman posted a 7-13 record and a 4.45 ERA with 142 strike outs in 194 1/3 innings.

Mentally, Diekman has displayed the ability to be tough and fearless on the mound. His focus going forward will be on consistency with his mechanics, especially with his arm angle, as he continues to strive toward the ultimate goal of pitching in the big leagues.

Headed into 2012, Diekman should get a good look with the big club in spring training and will likely begin the season with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. As inevitable injuries, that could effect many people's sports betting strategies, arise in the Phils' bullpen during the regular season, Diekman stands a very good chance at being a hurler that the team counts on to fill those voids and contribute.

____________________________________________________

For the 2012 Phils Prospect Nation index, click HERE.

You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Also connect with PhoulBallz on Facebook by clicking HERE.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PhoulBallz Q&A with Mike Stutes

Mike Stutes completes "The Reading Phils Mike Tri-fecta" over three days, here on PhoulBallz.com. Stutes, a 22 year old, was an 11th round selection by the Phillies in the 2008 amateur draft. Stutes, a right handed starting pitcher, helped lead Oregon State to the College World Series championship in both 2006 and 2007. Stutes and teammate Vance Worley are the first players to begin a season at Reading the year after being drafted since Pat Burrell did it in 1999. Stutes was the Phils' minor league pitcher of the month in August '08, when he went 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA in 6 starts. Check out my Q&A with the third Mike below. Can I get you to talk about the coaching staff and how they help you deal with ups and downs? They've been real positive with me. I started out good and then I hit a rough patch. They've stuck with me through it all. I haven't heard any negative words from them. Every day they try to come out, work with me, try to get me turned around...

Jason Knapp Q&A

PhoulBallz .com was fortunate enough to meet with Phillies prospect Jason Knapp just one day after he caught the attention of the baseball world with his 7 shut out innings, 14 strike out performance against the Indians' Lake County team. - I asked Jason, the Lakewood BlueClaw , for some thoughts about his big game... I had pretty good command of three pitches (fastball, curve, change up). I was on the same page with my catcher, D'Arnaud , and I ended up, ya know, I felt pretty good. - In a great performance like that, how much credit goes to Travis D'Arnaud , the catcher? More than you might expect, definitely. I didn't shake him off once. He told me what to throw and I do what I'm told. And if it works out, a lot of the credit goes to the catcher. - Does the lack of run support (Lakewood has scored 3 total runs in his 3 starts), in your few starts, increase your stress level, or enhance your focus? No, I just try to go out and do my job every outing. Ya know, we...

Yankees Fans Misled By Pepsi Promotion

**** Today, New York Yankees fans attended a Pepsi promotion in Times Square hoping for chances to win opening day tickets to the new stadium, but the tickets, which were difficult to track down due to poor organization on Pepsi's part, were actually for a game in June. Furthermore, the 250 pairs that were promised were actually only 100 pairs. The fans, who were made to sprint through traffic over multiple city blocks when locations for the promotion changed, quickly turned against the soda brand by pooring out their beverages and chanting anti-Pepsi phrases. Yankees fans are even threatening a boycott of Pepsi. An appearance by Yankee great Goose Gossage could not even settle the angry mob, as he had to be whisked away, as a precaution, according to the Daily News . Ooo , I'd hate to see what "the worst fans in sports" (Philadelphia fans) would have done to their free Pepsi cans and beloved reliever in that situation. Because this happened in a non-Philly city, th...