In The System: Diamond becoming a pitching 'artist' by going old school

Derek Diamond's afternoon had ended early because of rain. The way he had been pitching, he might not have lasted much longer anyway. He was already on the hook for four runs and hadn't completed the third inning.

As his teammates took cover from the rain in Clearwater, Fla. that late May day, the 22-year-old right-hander sat by himself, with one thought running through his head again and again.

"Man, I just know I'm so much better than this."

"I felt like there was this veil right in front of my face, and I just couldn't break through it," Diamond told me over the phone.

Rewind a little over a year and Diamond entered his junior year with Ole Miss with high expectations. If he could build on his sophomore year, he could be a day one draft pick. Instead, he struggled and posted a 6.89 ERA. His fastball lost zip, he didn't pitch in Omaha for the College World Series and he fell to the sixth round in the 2022 draft.

His first couple months with the Pirates' Class Low-A affiliate Bradenton hadn't been much better. The fastball had regained velocity, sitting back in the 92-94 mph range, but the results were inconsistent. It's around that point he and the Marauders' pitching coach, Matt Ford, started talking more.

The focus? Let's start having fun again.

"He let me embrace being a pitcher and playing with hitters rather than just battling myself all the time," Diamond said.

Diamond was essentially in a competition with himself that entire junior season. Ole Miss heavily emphasized the analytical side of the game with their pitching staff, and Diamond bought in because he trusted his coaches and knew solid peripherals could help his draft stock, so he started making changes because he thought the pitch would grade out better. It backfired.

"It didn't click because a high-vert [vertical movement] fastball for me made my arm slot hiking up higher," Diamond said. "It didn't work for me. I didn't have the command I usually have. I lost some velocity. It was honestly just way too much thinking about chasing to chase something that I wasn't."

With Ford, the analytics started to be de-emphasized. Diamond still had some breaking offerings with solid spin -- a cutter and a slurve, the latter of which is a new offering to add some vertical movement to his arsenal -- but the focus wasn't on getting the most rotations per minute. It was about pitching.

"I don't have the best fastball, I don't have the nastiest breaking ball as far as numbers will say," Diamond explained. "What makes me successful as a pitcher is being what you can call an artist. Changing speeds, moving it around, learning from the hitter, seeing his tendencies. Really just playing mind games rather than chasing some unicorn fastball, some really nasty sweeper."

Now on the other side of that slump, Diamond feels looser and more free. The results have shown. In his last five starts with Bradenton, Diamond struck out 25 over 30 innings with seven runs allowed (2.10 ERA). That earned him a recent call up to Class High-A Greensboro at the end of July, where he's allowed just five runs over his first three starts.

That slurve was a big reason for that success. It's a product of that new mindset, too. He wasn't allowed to throw a curveball in college because they wanted to keep him as a four-seam, cutter guy. Diamond believes it's because his coaches saw a lot of similarities between himself and Gunnar Hoglund, a former Ole Miss pitcher who had previously been taken in the first round.

There's no ill-will towards Ole Miss on Diamond's end. He still has a good relationship with those coaches. He believes everything they did had the right intentions, but it wasn't the right fit. Diamond just needed a more old-school approach.

Diamond got that confirmation this year when a former teammate saw him pitch in a game with the Marauders.

"The first thing he said was, 'adding the curveball was huge,' " Diamond said. "The cutter was a good pitch, but it didn't have quite enough movement to keep guys off of it. So adding the curveball to go with it was big."

That was his confirmation. This new approach where he's buying into himself first is right.

"Every pitch is completely different when thrown with confidence and conviction," Diamond said. "If I had to be completely honest, that's the biggest difference between college Derek and first year of pro ball Derek. I believe in my stuff again. When you go through a tough SEC season, it's tough to get out of that hole sometimes. I really didn't quite get out of it. But I kept the faith, worked with some great coaches this year, great teammates, and I'm throwing with confidence again. Having fun."

ONE MORE THING

Diamond was a hair late for our phone interview, but he had a good reason. He was giving his teammates haircuts. 

Diamond's a barber, specializing in shorter hair and fades. It's something he picked up during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was summer and a lot of barber shops were still closed, so he taught himself. It was a business while in school, but in pros, it's a service for just three or four of his teammates.

"I think in college I may have been a little too much barber and not enough pitcher," Diamond joked. "This year, I'm definitely pitcher first."

WHO IS HOT?

AAA Indianapolis: Miguel Andújar has had some pretty poor major-league showings the last couple years, but there's no question he can crush Class AAA pitching. He's hitting .500 (20-for-40) during his current nine-game hitting streak with four home runs and a 1.385 OPS. His 1.002 OPS on the year is sixth among all Triple-A players. The question is will Andújar get another chance in the majors before the season is over? Can't rule it out.

AA Altoona: Infielder Tsung-Che Cheng is currently on a 14-game hitting streak, the longest of any player in the Eastern League. I finally had the chance to watch Cheng in person this weekend, and was really struck by how smooth his swing is. I'll definitely keep an eye on him.

A+ Greensboro: Bubba Chandler was named the South Atlantic League's Pitcher-of-the-Week last week after striking out six over seven scoreless innings on Aug. 4. Over his last four starts, he has allowed just one earned run over 22 2/3 innings pitched (0.40 ERA) with 24 strikeouts and a .133 batting average against. After a bumpy start of the year, he's found a groove of late.

A- Bradenton: Wilber Dotel was named the Florida State League’s Pitcher-of-the-Month for July after going 2-0 with an 0.35 ERA in five appearances, four of which were starts. The 20-year-old right-hander has lowered his ERA to 2.80 over 54 2/3 innings, striking out 40 with a 1.43 WHIP.

SOMETHING TO WATCH

How about some love for the defense? Indianapolis has gone 11 straight games without an error, making them the only professional team without an error since July 25. How far can this streak go?

CLIP OF THE WEEK

Lonnie White Jr. has had a difficult time just staying on the field in his short professional career, but he's currently raking for Bradenton at the moment, posting a 1.029 during his current 16-game on-base streak. That includes this crushed grand slam Sunday:

With a good portion of the top prospects list in the majors and the draft picks being sorted out, the tracking of the top prospects is going to be put on hold for a bit until the midseason updates of top prospect lists. This portion of the feature will return shortly.