By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Nine years ago, on the eve of the international bracket championship game at the Little League World Series, 12-year-old Diego Diaz turned to the ESPN cameras.

‘Hey, Diego, can we ask you some questions?”

“Yeah, sure, why not?” he said.

As it turned out, Diaz was as cool on camera on that summer day in 2017 as he looked in wearing a green and red-trimmed Mexico team jersey.

In a game of 21 questions, he fielded some in English and some in Spanish.

Who is your favorite baseball player?

“Jose Altuve.”

Thor, or Iron Man?

“Iron Man.”

And on it went, until, finally, the reporter asked about his preference in workouts.

Jumping jacks or pushups?

“Pushups,” Diaz replied.

At that, the inquisitor asked if Diaz could drop down and do 10, and the young man who hailed at the time from Reynosa, Mexico, on the U.S. border in the Rio Grande Valley, proceeded to show off his fitness.

“One, two, three…”

On all fours, Diaz counted it out to 10, sprang back to his feet and modestly smiled for the camera.

At that moment, he undoubtedly was the darling of every ESPN-watching abuela south of the border.

Today, as another chapter unfolds in his baseball story, the starting third baseman for the UTSA Roadrunners doesn’t think too much about his brush with fame during that wondrous week in Williamsport, Pa.

Not unless a reporter or one of his teammates brings it up, that is. Sometimes, he acknowledged, a teammate will rib him a little about the pushups.

“It’s fun, though,” Diaz said. “It’s funny.”

At the same time, it is interesting that, nine years after Williamsport, all those pushups might just be paying dividends for the Roadrunners as they prepare to play their first game in the American Baseball Championship.

Going into Friday’s game in Clearwater, Fla., against the Memphis Tigers, Diaz, one of the Roadrunners’ smallest players at 5-feet-10 and 180 pounds, has developed into one of their most reliable hitters.

And, lately, one of their best power threats.

Diaz, mired in a 2-or-32 slump from March 17 through April 7, has turned his game around completely.

Since April 10, the native of Mission, Texas, a UTSA junior who once played both baseball and football in high school at Sharyland, is batting a robust .361.

In that time, he’s on a streak with 26 hits in 72 at bats.

On top of that, since April 25, he has blasted six home runs and four doubles, including a home run and a double at Texas.

Against the UAB Blazers on the last weekend of the regular season, Diaz surged again, going six for 14 with two doubles and four homers.

“Just seeing the ball well,” Diaz said, after hitting two homers on Friday in the victory that clinched back-to-back regular-season championships for the Roadrunners.

In the big picture, it’s been a bounce-back year for Diaz. As a freshman in 2024, he played 36 games with 33 starts, hit .309 and made the American Conference’s all freshman team.

Last season, he played in 41 games but started only 16. Diaz also got to bat only about half as much as he did as a freshman and, consequently, hit a very cool .212.

This year, the player whose walk-up music is ‘Volver, Volver,’ a traditional Mexican ballad about yearning to return to a lost love, has been true to the song’s lyrics.

He’s returned to his best baseball self, playing in 52 games and starting 44, while hitting at a .299 clip with a career-high OPS of .991.

As far as UTSA coach Pat Hallmark is concerned, Diaz’s success on the field this season brings him a great deal of satisfaction.

“When I think about how I feel about (a player’s progress), it’s almost always joy for the player,” the coach said. “That’s mostly how I feel.”

Ever since the regular season ended last Saturday, Hallmark mostly has been focused on figuring out how to get his team to play at a higher level in the tournament.

“But for these guys you’re asking me about,” he said, “the overwhelming feeling I have is joy for the player, because they’ve been through a lot.”

Last year, as a sophomore, Diaz took his reduced role in stride after Hallmark brought in infielders Ty and Nathan Hodge and Norris McClure.

“We got lucky in the portal and landed some really talented guys, and Diego didn’t play as much as he wanted,” Hallmark said. “He handled it wonderfully, like a real grown-up, like a mature young man, and then this year to have the great year he’s having, I’m happy for Diego.”

Diaz’s relationship with the coach is good despite him having to return as a junior and work his way back into the starting lineup.

“Oh, it’s a lot of fun,” he said, when asked about playing for Hallmark and assistant Ryan Aguayo. “I played a lot my freshman year, and it was a lot of fun. Last year, I didn’t play a lot. But, I stayed here just because I love playing for him.

“It’s always fun, and he knows what he’s talking about. Coach Aguayo does, too. I love playing here.”

On May 11, he was reminded during a teleconference with the media that his batting average since April 10 was .350, and then was asked about how he had pulled out of his three-week slump.

“That’s just baseball,” he said. “It’s playing up and down a lot. I’m not going to be hitting .350 the whole time. Just kind of, when that slump is happening, just keep working through it and just control what I can control. From there, stuff happens.”

For a young man his size, the evolution of his power numbers on an ascending arc has been nothing short of astonishing. Eight doubles, three triples and nine home runs this season.

It is all in the training, explained Diaz, whose regular regimen of pushups in Reynosa as a grade-school prodigy has given way to a collegiate strength and conditioning program north of the border, in northwest San Antonio.

“It all just comes from enjoying and embracing the weight room,” he said, “and obviously the coaching staff helping with my swing … Just putting the work in the weight room, (it) helps a lot.”

“And, gaining weight, so, eating a lot of food (helps, too).”

Records

Memphis 24-32
UTSA 36-19

Coming up

Fifth-seeded Memphis vs. top-seeded UTSA, Friday, at about noon

If the Roadrunners win, they would play in a winners bracket game Saturday at 9 a.m. against the East Carolina Pirates.

If they lose, they would play again Friday at around 7 or 7:30 p.m. against the Wichita State Shockers in an elimination game.