Pitching adjustments proving fruitful to prospect Diekman

SURPRISE, Ariz. - The few batters who reach first base when Jake Diekman pitches usually greet Cody Overbeck with a similar refrain: "I don't like facing him."

Diekman, a lefthanded reliever in the Phillies organization, has ascended in the minor leagues with first baseman Overbeck, who's encountered enough baserunners wanting to let off steam after 90 feet to share their unrest.

"I've never heard as many batters get on first and complain about facing someone," Overbeck said of Diekman before a recent Arizona Fall League game. "Just the guy that everyone hates to face. And they'll tell you that. Even out here, during the season, no one likes facing him. He's kind of funky, and he throws it pretty well."

Upon watching Diekman, it's clear why Overbeck's heard those complaints. Diekman is 6-4, and throws a mid-90s fastball with a near-sidearm release across his body. In 11 1/3 AFL innings against some of the top prospects in the minors, Diekman recorded an 0.79 ERA while allowing three hits, six walks and finishing with 14 strikeouts. The Phillies recently promoted the 24-year-old to their 40-man roster, protecting him from the Rule 5 draft and putting Diekman in conversations about a spot in the bullpen.

"He's throwing a little harder than what I saw this summer, and with his arm angle, he's going to be tough on lefties," assistant general manager Benny Looper said. "He just needs to work on his command and his slider, and he's going to be close to helping us."

Diekman agreed that control is his biggest issue. But the fact that he's now in reasonable conversations about his Phillies' future is an indication of an organizational experiment that worked.

In the second half of the 2009 season, while pitching for Class A Lakewood, the Phillies decided to move Diekman's arm slot. He had a three-quarter-release point and was a middling prospect in his second consecutive season with an ERA of more than 4.00. The Phillies thought he could become more effective if he dropped his plane, almost to the point that he pitches sidearm.

"You really can't say no," Diekman said. "I went with it and said, 'All right.' All your mechanics and everything are in the same position. It's just a different plane."

Diekman said sidearm actually felt more natural, and there was no dramatic overhaul with the rest of his body other than the release point. But for a pitcher raised to pitch one way, it helped when he started seeing immediate results. His numbers continued to improve as he's become more comfortable. In the two seasons since the change, Diekman's been one of the organization's top minor league relievers. He spent all of 2011 in Double A Reading, striking out 83 batters in 65 innings.

Diekman said his velocity increased 2 to 3 mph with the new delivery, and he's now topping off at 96 to 97 mph. In two-thirds of an inning in the Fall League's Rising Stars Game, with general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. and other members of the Phillies front office sitting behind home plate, Diekman flashed both signs of promise and signals of inconsistency. Of his 18 pitches, only eight were strikes. Of those eight, one was a swing-and-miss. He threw 15 fastballs, all from 93 to 95 mph. He allowed an RBI single, although he also induced an inning-ending doubleplay.

"It's about consistency," Amaro said. "One of the things he's shown is great arm strength. Anytime you got someone from the left side who throws that hard, from that angle, that's pretty interesting."

Now Diekman's on the 40-man roster and is inching closer toward the big-league club. It's a far stretch for someone who attended a high school in Nebraska with around 150 students that didn't even have a baseball team. He played American Legion ball, went to a small NAIA school in Nebraska for a year and junior college in Kansas for another year. The Phillies took him with a 30th-round pick in 2007, an unlikely point to find a potential major leaguer. Soon enough, Diekman might prove to be an exception.

"If you don't think you can pitch in the big leagues, you're in the wrong sport," Diekman said. "I feel like I can get hitters out . . . Just to get the opportunity to be there someday would be unbelievable."