Isan Diaz homers off deGrom for 1st MLB hit
Bill Ladson
@ladsonbill24NEW YORK -- Marlins prospect Isan Diaz's highly anticipated debut provided plenty of excitement.
Yes, the Marlins hardly had any answers for Mets ace Jacob deGrom during their 6-2 loss in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Monday afternoon at Citi Field.
However, it didn¡¯t take away from the promise surrounding Diaz. The Marlins' second baseman grew up a Mets fan in Massachusetts, and he made his Major League debut with his family watching, going 1-for-4 with his first big league home run coming off deGrom, the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner.
¡°It was a fastball -- inside, up and in,¡± Diaz said. ¡°He was really attacking me with the slider, and he was going up and away with the fastball. I was trying to sit on the fastball the whole time. I was lucky to hit the ball on the barrell.¡±
After Game 2 of the doubleheader, which saw him go 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts, Diaz met his family on the field.
¡°I felt great, really excited,¡± Diaz said. ¡°I was very happy. It would have been better if we received those two wins. But we come back tomorrow and we get after them.¡±
Diaz¡¯s father, Raul, was shaking his head in disbelief throughout the game at the circumstances surrounding his son¡¯s debut.
¡°How ironic that Isan¡¯s idol is [Mets second baseman] Robinson Cano, who he got to know very well during Spring Training,¡± Raul said. ¡°How surreal is it that he makes his Major League debut 2 1/2 hours from our hometown, where we have 50-plus people, family and friends who are attending the game today?¡±
¡°It¡¯s good to see Isan get the first hit out of the way, first homer out of the way. You get a lot of firsts out of the way,¡± Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. ¡°More than that, you see the at-bats. You see him taking some good changeups, breaking balls from deGrom. Get behind in the count in his last at-bat and works the count to 3-2. He looked good out there. It will be fun to watch him.¡±
Imagine how Diaz¡¯s family felt during the great moment. Raul was being interviewed on the Marlins¡¯ TV broadcast while Diaz hit the home run. He and other family members were yelling and screaming with excitement after Diaz made contact.
¡°Man, I¡¯ll tell you -- when you are a young man and you have this dream of being a professional baseball player, you do whatever it takes to try to work as hard as you can to get recognition,¡± Raul said. ¡°That was my method. That was my signature move. When my son was born, I was going to put everything in my effort to make sure that this kid lives his dream at this level.¡±
Diaz, who was acquired from the Brewers in the Christian Yelich trade, is the Marlins' No. 5 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, the No. 6 second-base prospect and the No. 86 overall prospect. Diaz, 23, was hitting .305/.395/.578 with 26 home runs and 70 RBIs in 102 games at Triple-A before his promotion.
Raul said he knew his son was going to be special when he played in a tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y., when he was 13 years old.
¡°Isan played against the best talent in the country,¡± Raul remembered. ¡°I saw a different wave in his ability ¡ that took off. I saw a desire, a passion. From there, he built a mentality that he wanted to work on a daily basis, which carried over to who he is today.¡±