There's not enough Isan Diaz to go around. He was welcomed to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers with open arms, now the question is how long will he stay here, and when will the Brewers come calling?
Ask Isan, and he has one goal.
“I'm here for one reason and that's to get to the big leagues,” Diaz said. “That's the only thing I'm worried about.”
That's why Diaz wasn't concerned when a trade with the Diamondbacks brought him to Wisconsin earlier this year. Now the Puerto Rico native and shortstop feels right at home with the Timber Rattlers.
“He can play defense, he can play offense,” described Timber Rattlers Manager Matt Erickson. “He's showing some intangibles on the bases, baseball instinct.”
Ranked 11th on the Brewers prospect watch list and last year's Pioneer League MVP, Isan Diaz is a name that's been at the center of the Brewers rebuilding.
“It's fun obviously because you kind of sense a little bit of what's going to come up, the group of guys that might arise with you,” Diaz explained. “We always talk about ‘hey, the day we get there.’ We're always going to talk about the little moments that happened when we we're playing in the minor leagues.”
Those little moments will add up to the big leagues. To get there, Diaz models his game after one player in particular: Robinson Cano.
“I love his swing,” he said. “I love his swagger on the field. I've never met him but I feel like we have some sort of resemblance to how our style is in the play and I try to emulate everything he does, watch YouTube videos, come out, try to do it in the cage. It might not be like him but I think it's somewhat close. Everyone always says 'you're Robbie Cano Two' and hey, I'm trying to be. Hopefully it works and I get to the big leagues one day and be better than him.”
“That's not a bad guy to emulate but I've challenged him to be Isan Diaz,” Erickson said. “What if you're better than Cano at some point?”
At this point, Cano is an established 12-year veteran and six-time All-Star. As for Diaz, he's your typical 20-year-old who still has his millennial moments.
“He's on his phone a lot,” Erickson said with a smile. “I think he's in love. I think he's madly in love and he's always talking to some girl.”
“Wow, did he really say that?” Diaz questioned with a laugh. “He's always creeping around the clubhouse and trying to figure out different things of what everyone is doing in their locker, but yeah, I do obviously have someone at home who's always watching the games.”
