Elias Diaz

32-Year-Old CatcherC

Colorado Rockies

2022 Stats

AVG

.228

RBI

2023 Projections

AVG

RBI

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2023 Fantasy Outlook

Diaz inked a three-year, $14.5 million extension with Colorado after he hit 18 home runs with a .774 OPS in 2021, but he was unable to build on that success last season. The 32-year-old had a .228/.281/.368 slash line with nine homers in 105 games during 2022, and his defense also took a major step back with minus-15 DRS. Brian Serven made his MLB debut but didn't impress offensively with a 52 wRC+, but he provided strong work behind the plate. Diaz should open 2023 with a slight edge for playing time, but his playing time is hardly secure given last season's production, and his fantasy outlook is similarly trending in the wrong direction. Read Past Outlooks

RANKS

#368

ADP

Overall

League Majors

Bats R

Throws R

40 Man Yes

Height 6'1"

Weight 223

DOB 11/17/1990

Born Maracaibo, Venezuela

College None

Drafted 2008 PIT

Resting up Wednesday

CColorado Rockies

October 5, 2022

Diaz is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Dodgers, Patrick Lyons of TheDNVR.com reports.

ANALYSIS
Diaz caught in both of the Rockies' last two games, so he'll be getting some maintenance in a day game Wednesday. Brian Serven will handle catching duties in the season finale.

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Batting Stats

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2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2022 MLB Game Log

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2021 MLB Game Log

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2020 MLB Game Log

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2019 MLB Game Log

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2018 MLB Game Log

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Minor League Game Log

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Batting Order Slot Breakdown

vs Right-Handed Pitchers

vs RHP

vs Left-Handed Pitchers

vs LHP

Left/Right Batting Splits

Since 2020

+14%

OPS vs LHP

2022

+28%

OPS vs LHP

2021

+1%

OPS vs RHP

2020

+61%

OPS vs LHP

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2020vs Left	.761	299	26	11	34	0	.262	.321	.440
Since 2020vs Right	.670	509	57	17	68	0	.222	.281	.389
2022vs Left	.750	140	10	4	16	0	.278	.314	.436
2022vs Right	.587	241	19	5	35	0	.197	.261	.326
2021vs Left	.768	135	14	6	13	0	.242	.326	.442
2021vs Right	.778	236	38	12	31	0	.248	.301	.477
2020vs Left	.788	24	2	1	5	0	.273	.333	.455
2020vs Right	.488	32	0	0	2	0	.207	.281	.207
More Splits→	View More Split Stats

Home/Away Batting Splits

Since 2020

+36%

OPS at Home

2022

+51%

OPS at Home

2021

+29%

OPS at Home

2020

+2%

OPS on Road

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2020Home	.813	393	51	17	64	0	.275	.326	.488
Since 2020Away	.598	416	32	11	38	0	.198	.267	.331
2022Home	.783	186	20	7	34	0	.270	.312	.471
2022Away	.517	195	9	2	17	0	.186	.251	.266
2021Home	.874	183	30	9	25	0	.289	.350	.524
2021Away	.678	188	22	9	19	0	.203	.271	.407
2020Home	.598	24	1	1	5	0	.217	.250	.348
2020Away	.609	33	1	0	2	0	.241	.333	.276
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Stat Review

How does Elias Diaz compare to other hitters?

This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.

BB/K
Walk to strikeout ratio
BB Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
K Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
BABIP
Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
ISO
Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
AVG
Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
OBP
On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
SLG
Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
OPS
On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
wOBA
Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
Exit Velocity
The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
Hard Hit Rate
A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
Barrels/PA
The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
Expected BA
Expected Batting Average.
Expected SLG
Expected Slugging Percentage.
Sprint Speed
The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
Ground Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
Line Drive %
The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
Fly Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.

BB/K

0.30

BB Rate

6.6%

K Rate

21.5%

BABIP

.270

ISO

.140

AVG

.228

OBP

.281

SLG

.368

OPS

.648

wOBA

.286

Exit Velocity

88.4 mph

Hard Hit Rate

31.3%

Barrels/PA

4.2%

Expected BA

.222

Expected SLG

.339

Sprint Speed

22.2 ft/sec

Ground Ball %

47.8%

Line Drive %

16.2%

Fly Ball %

36.0%

Advanced Batting Stats

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Additional Stats

Games By Position

Defensive Stats

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Batted Ball Stats

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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers

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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

In his second season with the Rockies, Diaz posted a .774 OPS, the second-highest mark of his career. He also graded out as a strong defender. As a result, he was rewarded with a three-year extension from Colorado. The backstop slashed .246/.310/.464 with a career-best 18 homers, 52 runs and 44 RBI across 106 games. Part of his success can be attributed to his improved 40.1 FB%, which is particularly important for hitters playing in Colorado's altitude. The 31-year-old also generated a career-high 16.1% HR/FB. Although Diaz continued to split time behind the dish in 2021, he appears to be the favorite for playing time over Dom Nunez, who hit .189 across 81 appearances last year. Diaz has the advantage of playing his home games at hitter-friendly Coors Field, which gives him a fairly high batting-average floor relative to others at the position. If the power gains he showed last year hold, he could be a steal in leagues where two catchers are started.

Following a disappointing 2019 campaign, Diaz had the opportunity to get a fresh start with the Rockies. Even though he got to play his home games at hitter-friendly Coors Field, the catcher was unable to establish himself as the team's primary catcher during most of 2020. His wOBA crept up to .302, but his BABIP fell to .275, while his Z-Contact% dropped to 84.3%. Diaz did put more balls in the air, which is certainly promising for a player in Colorado. He had a 35.8% flyball rate, and his hard-hit rate (39.6%) and barrel percentage (11.3%) both jumped during his first season with the Rockies. However, he struggled with patience once again, posting a 6.8 BB% and 20.5 K%. Diaz has shown glimpses of promise in his career and could provide late-round value if he consistently starts, but he's been unable to produce on a regular basis and should compete for playing time with Dom Nunez next year.

After a promising 2018 campaign, Diaz was unable to put the pieces together in 2019. Francisco Cervelli was released due to lingering concussion issues in August, and Diaz was unable to lock down the role of an everyday catcher. Diaz hit just .241/.296/.307 with two home runs in 101 games, down from the season before in which he hit .286/.339/.452 with 10 home runs in 82 games. The 29-year-old has above-average contact skills -- he had an 88.7 Z-Contact% and 16.9 K% last season -- but Diaz struggled with patience (6.9 BB%) and the quality connections simply were not there after he found a groove in these areas the year before. The 29-year-old showed what he was capable of in 2018 by flashing his power potential and ability to produce runs in limited opportunities, but the Pirates moved on over the winter and Diaz will have to start essentially from Square 1 with the Rockies.

Despite playing in just 82 games while serving primarily as a backup to Francisco Cervelli, Diaz was a top-20 earner at the catcher position. It was a big improvement on his previous season -- Diaz walked more (7.6%) and shaved nearly five percentage points off his strikeout rate while adding more than 10 percentage points to his hard-hit rate. With that, his power numbers and batting average improved dramatically. Statcast suggests the numbers could have been even better given the quality of his approach and contact. Diaz uses the whole field well (just a 37.7 Pull%), and while there's little in his track record to suggest this level of power is sustainable, catchers typically take longer to develop offensively, so who knows? Cervelli has another year left on his deal and will presumably remain the starter, but Cervelli has dealt with a variety of injuries. Even in a backup role, Diaz has appeal as a low-cost catching option.

After appearing for a sip of latte each of the past two seasons, Diaz received extended playing time in 2017 as regular catcher Francisco Cervelli endured an injury-riddled season. Diaz began the season with Triple-A Indianapolis before being recalled May 1. He'd ride the Pitt-Indy shuffle three more times before being called up for good on Aug. 28. Diaz makes good contact, sporting a strikeout rate in the mid-teens throughout his minor-league career, whiffing at a 19 percent clip last season in 200 plate appearances with the Pirates. Unfortunately, with little power and even less speed, Diaz doesn't take advantage of the balls he puts in play, slugging just .314 with a .091 ISO. Considering Diaz's defense is nothing special, his career path looks to be that of a backup receiver. However, with the fragile Cervelli back for the Bucs, Diaz could be pressed into action again in 2018.

Diaz missed a golden opportunity to make an impact in 2016 as he instead made two separate trips to the disabled list. First, he underwent elbow surgery in early May and didn't make his minor league season debut until July 4. He then caught one game in Pittsburgh, throwing out a baserunner in late July, before returning to the minors and later developing a season-ending bacterial infection in his leg. Diaz was a defense-first catcher until 2014, when he hit a combined .312 between Double-A and Triple-A. He doesn't hold a ton of power but he could see significant action in the big leagues in 2017 if Francisco Cervelli once again misses time due to injury.

Diaz was unable to follow up a breakout 2014 (.328/.378/.445) in 2015 (.271/.330/.382), but he did advance from Double-A to Triple-A. The 25-year-old made his major league debut in September as catching insurance but appeared in only two games as a pinch-hitter. His stock dropped a bit and 2013 No. 1 draft pick Reese McGuire looms large in the organization’s long-term plans. Still, Diaz threw out 30 percent of baserunners and offers Pittsburgh a solid potential backup to Francisco Cervelli, depending upon fellow catcher Chris Stewart’s plans.

More Fantasy News

Not starting Thursday

CColorado Rockies

September 29, 2022

Diaz isn't in the lineup Thursday against San Francisco, Patrick Lyons of TheDNVR.com reports.