(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Vaqueros de Monteria announced on Tuesday that infielder Jordan Diaz will play for the organization for the 2023-24 Liga Profesional de Béisbol Colombia regular season.
Diaz, 23, was born in Monteria, Colombia and played in his first full rookie season in 2023 with the Oakland Athletics. Diaz also played in Triple-A Las Vegas during 2023, where he batted .308 in 38 games with 169 plate appearances recording 48 hits, 13 doubles, six home runs, 31 RBI, 10 walks, and 30 strikeouts.
With the Athletics in 2023, Diaz played in 90 games with 293 plate appearances batting .221 smacking 60 hits, nine doubles, 10 home runs, 27 RBI, 17 walks, 69 strikeouts, and a .637 OPS.
Diaz played in the 2023 World Baseball Classic with Colombia in four games with 10 at-bats, drawing one walk and striking out three times while not recording a hit during the tournament
Last winter, Diaz played in the 2023 Caribbean Series in Caracas, Venezuela with Vaqueros de Monteria in nine games in 40 plate appearances batting .265 recording nine hits, three doubles, one home run, nine RBI, six walks, and five strikeouts.
Diaz in his third season playing in the winter helped the Vaqueros de Monteria win the 2022-23 LPCB best-of-seven championship series beating Tigres de Cartagena in five games to help them reach the Caribbean Series for the second time in their franchise history since 2020 which was the first year that Colombia participated in the tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico at Hiram Bithorn Stadium.
Diaz in 2022-23 with Vaqueros de Monteria played in 39 games with 131 plate appearances and batted .339 recording 37 hits, five doubles, three home runs, 20 RBI, 16 walks, and eight strikeouts.
Diaz made his Major League Baseball debut on September 18, 2022 with the Oakland Athletics after he was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas. Diaz played in 15 games with 51 plate appearances batting .265 recording 13 hits, three doubles, one RBI, two walks, and seven strikeouts.
Between three Caribbean Series and three winter league seasons with Vaqueros de Monteria, Diaz has played in 87 games with 294 plate appearances batting .316 smacking 80 hits, 18 doubles, one triple, six home runs, 51 RBI, seven stolen bases, 31 walks, 27 strikeouts, and a .861 OPS.
Diaz will primarily be the starting third baseman for the Athletics prior to the start of the 2024 regular season with Aledmys Diaz and Nick Allen fighting for the starting shortstop job during Spring Training.