Victor Diaz: Mid 2000's Mets Outfielder (2004 - 2006)

Victor Israel Diaz was born on December 10th, 1981, in Santo Domingo Dominican Republic. The six-foot right hand hitting outfielder was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2000 in the 37th round.

In the minor leagues he stole bases & hit for some power which had people calling him the five tooled player. Early on, he stole over twenty bases in 2002 & then 15 more the next year. In July of 2003 he came over to the New York Mets organization in exchange for Jeromy Burnitz.

Mets Career: At AA Binghamton he .354 with six HR in 45 games making a big impression. In 2004 he was promoted to AAA Norfolk where he hit .292 leading the Tides with 24 HRs 94 RBIs stealing just six bases. It was all people needed to see, as he was already getting anointed the outfielder of the Mets future.

Diaz was brought up on September 11th, 2004, in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Shea Stadium. Diaz walked in his first at bat & then later doubled driving in two runs in the Mets, although the Mets lost 11-9. 

On September 23rd he hit his first career HR, it came off the Expos Tomo Ohka in Montreal in a 4-2 Met win.

On September 25th, with the Mets down 3-0 in the bottom of the 9th, Diaz tied the game with a three run HR off the Cubs Latroy Hawkins. The Mets won it on a walk ff hit from HR from short timer Craig Brazell.

Five games later, Diaz hit his third HR coming in a 6-3 loss at Atlanta.

Overall, in his debut, he batted .294 (15-51) with three doubles, three HRs & eight RBIs in 15 games.

2005: This year the Mets were a better team, with the additions of Carlos Beltran, Pedro Martinez & new skipper Willie Randolph. Diaz began the season with the Mets, getting three hits in the second game of the season in a 9-5 loss in Cincinnati. 

Multi HR Game: On April 19th he hit a pair of HRs off the Phillies Vicente Padilla driving in four runs in the Mets 16-4 romp, 15 hit attack in Philadelphia. 

Four Hit- Three RBI Game: On April 23rd, in a 10-5 win over the Nat's at Shea Stadium, he collected four hits with a two RBI doubles, driving in three runs raising his average to .343.

Diaz stayed over the .300 mark until the end of April. On May 4th he hit another HR against Randy Wolf & the Phillies leading to a Mets 3-2 win.

By the end of June, he slumped & his average fell to .242. The Mets sent him sent back to AAA Norfolk where he batted an even .300, hitting ten HRs in 42 games, getting the fans excited once again.

Multi HR Return: On August 12th, Diaz returned in heroic fashion hitting two HRs off the Dodgers Jeff Weaver in a 7-6 loss at Dodger Stadium. 

On August 25th he hit a two run HR in the top of the 9th inning off Brandon Medders in Arizona, breaking a 1-1 tie leading to a 3-1 Mets win. T

Through September he hit well enough to show promise for his future. The media was even dubbing him "Baby Manny" with expectations of him being a Manny Ramirez type player, unfortunately that did not work out.

2006 NL East Champions: The Mets had a good team in 2006 & Diaz found himself in the background only making it to six games with the NL East Champions. Meanwhile at AAA Norfolk he batted just .224 with 8 HRs & 38 RBIs in 106 games. 

The Mets gave upon him, at the end of August he was traded to the Texas Rangers for Mike Nickeas. Somehow just like that, Victor Diaz & all the hype for him were gone.

In Texas in 2007, Diaz played 37 games batting .240 with 9 HRs & 25 RBIs. He was released that November. 

He signed with the Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners & Baltimore Orioles in the next few years but never got back to the big leagues.

Career Stats: In a four-year career he batted .256 with 114 hits 24 HRs 25 doubles six stolen bases 73 RBIs & a .309 on base % in 37 games. 

Nippon Professional Baseball & Independant Baseball: In 2012 he played in Japan with the Chunichi Dragons. He then played Independant baseball with Bridgeport Bluefish, then in Westchester Rockland & lastly in the AAIP.