Edwin Diaz’s swagger turned up in return to Mariners after electric performance in WBC
Mar 24, 2017, 4:59 PM | Updated: 4:59 pm
(AP)
PEORIA, Ariz. – Edwin Diaz returned to Mariners camp Friday morning after his successful tear through the World Baseball Classic with Team Puerto Rico. He said his hellos to the few that were in the clubhouse – a result of the Mariners’ day/night split squad doubleheader – checked in with his manager and then headed out to the field to throw a bullpen.
The sizzle that we saw in the tournament was there, as was the blonde hair. The swagger was perhaps turned down just a bit, though truth be told it was up a notch from the previous year and even from before he left for the WBC. This no doubt was the same kid who answered “Three outs” when asked what he expected following his first big league save.
“I was relaxed on the mound,” Diaz said of his WBC experience. “I was thinking, ‘Just follow the catcher.’ I know I need to be in that situation because if we make the playoffs this year, that’s the kind of situation I need to pitch. But I was relaxed and doing my job.”
Seriously, Edwin? We all were watching. We saw the animation he displayed, sometimes pitch to pitch. We also saw the occasional ball that got away.
“I feel happy when I pitch like that,” he laughed before conceding that his first outing was a little tough because he was perhaps too excited.
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The Mariners believe that of all the players who participated in the WBC, it was Diaz who could get the most out of the experience as there is no way to replicate the playoff-like atmosphere and pressure of the Classic. Diaz, for his part, didn’t think he needed it.
“Here!” he answered when asked if he had ever experienced anything like he did pitching for his country in the WBC. “When I pitch here I feel the same thing but didn’t want to express it because I don’t know how people will take it, but I feel the same thing here when I pitch in the ninth inning.”
One of the highlights for Diaz was facing teammate Jean Segura with a two-run lead with one on and two out in the ninth inning of Puerto Rico’s game against the Dominican Republic.
“I was laughing,” he said. “When I struck him out I said ‘Ha, I struck you out,’ and he said, ‘You throw me a high fastball, throw me a low one and I will hit it out.'”
He didn’t get to face Robinson Cano or Nelson Cruz, who were also on the Dominican team, but he did have a plan for them.
“I told Robbie I would throw only fastballs to him,” he said. “He told me if I hit a home run I will (fist) pump you. I said, ‘If I strike you out, I will pump you.'”
On the serious side of things, Diaz was proud to represent his country and give it a distraction from what he said has been tough, crime-riddled times of late.
“It was about getting the people in Puerto Rico together. That was the main goal,” he said. “We played for you and the country because there was a lot of crime. Those last two weeks nothing bad happened in Puerto Rico. Everybody watching, everybody got the blonde hair, it was amazing. The people push up a lot for us and do a lot of good things for us. That’s why I went to Puerto Rico yesterday to go to the parade and I saw all the people in the street happy.”
A celebration parade was planned win or lose, and the people turned out.
“The people get crazy in the streets, it was amazing,” Diaz said. “We were in the van and the people were running with us to the convention center. We had a good time over there with the people in Puerto Rico.”
Diaz, who holds baseball clinics in Puerto Rico in the offseason, is hopeful that the success of Puerto Rico’s star-filled team will help continue to grow the sport in his country, where it has struggled lately.
“That was the thing that we young guys on the team thought, was that we can push baseball back to the top in Puerto Rico,” he said. “The veteran guys, (Yadier) Molina and (Carlos) Beltran, the guys I watched growing up said we can push baseball up. It’s our moment to put baseball back up in Puerto Rico.”
Diaz has done his part for his country and now knows it is time to do his part for his team. He says his arm feels great and that the extra offseason work he put in has him ready for the regular season with a tremendous two weeks on the WBC stage behind him.
“It was great,” he said. “The experience of playing for my country was unbelievable. Playing for my country, representing. We did well.”