Benjamin Howard Diggins (born June 13, 1979) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

Amateur career

Diggins was drafted by the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

in the first round of the

1998 Major League Baseball Draft The 1998 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, was held on June 2 and 3, 1998. A total of 1445 players were drafted over the course of 50 rounds. First round selections ...

, but did not sign. He was later drafted by the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

in the first round of the

2000 Major League Baseball Draft First round selections Compensation picks Background The Florida Marlins made Adrián González of Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, California the first overall selection in the 2000 First-Year Player Draft. González, who was rated as ...

and signed on August 23, . He attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

where he was a ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

'' Freshman All-American in 1999 and a consensus All-American as a sophomore in 2000. As a starting pitcher Diggins was 10–4 with a 3.83 ERA and 127 strikeouts. He also hit for the Wildcats, batting .340 with 9 home runs and 41 RBIs. He played for the U.S.A National Baseball team the summer of 1999, where he led the team in saves (3) and ERA (2.05)

Professional career

Los Angeles Dodgers

Diggins began his professional career with the Class-A

Wilmington Waves The Wilmington Waves were a minor league baseball team in Wilmington, North Carolina in the 2001 baseball season. They were a Low-A class team that played in the South Atlantic League, and were a farm team of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the fra ...

of the

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

in . He went 7–6 with a 3.58

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

and 79

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s in 21 games, all starts. In Diggins began the season with the Class-A Advanced

Vero Beach Dodgers Vero may refer to: Geography * Vero Beach, Florida, a city in the United States * Vero, Corse-du-Sud, a commune of France in Corsica Other * ''Véro'', a talk show on the Radio-Canada television network * Vero (app), a social media company co-found ...

. He went 6–10 with a 3.63 ERA in 20 games, 19 starts.

Milwaukee Brewers

On July 23, Diggins was traded by the Dodgers along with

Shane Nance Joseph Shane Nance (born September 7, 1977) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He played parts of three seasons in the majors, from to with the Milwaukee Brewers and in with the Arizona Diamondbacks. College career Nance attende ...

to the Milwaukee Brewers for Tyler Houston and a player to be named later, who eventually was

Brian Mallette Brian Drew Mallette (born January 19, 1975) is a former professional baseball pitcher. He played part of one season in Major League Baseball for the Milwaukee Brewers in , and one season in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Osaka Kintetsu Buf ...

. He finished the season with the Double-A

Huntsville Stars The Huntsville Stars were a Minor League Baseball team that played in Huntsville, Alabama, from 1985 to 2014. They competed in the Southern League as the Double-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics from 1985 to 1998 and Mil ...

of the Southern League where he went 2–1 with a 1.91 ERA in seven games, all starts. Between the two organizations, Diggins went a combined 8–11 with a 3.20 ERA and 135 strikeouts in 151

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

. Diggins was promoted to the Major Leagues and made his debut on September 2, 2002, against the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

. He started the game but only pitched 1, giving up eight runs, seven

earned Earning can refer to: * Labour (economics) *Earnings of a company *Merit Merit may refer to: Religion * Merit (Christianity) * Merit (Buddhism) * Punya (Hinduism) * Imputed righteousness in Reformed Christianity Companies and brands * Merit ...

. In five games, all starts, Diggins went 0–4 with an 8.62 ERA in 24 innings pitched. In Diggins began the season with the Double-A Huntsville Stars going 3–2 with a 2.36 ERA, all starts, before tearing the UCL ligament in his elbow. He had season-ending

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

in August 2003.

Houston Astros

On December 8, Diggins was selected by the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

in the Rule 5 Draft but never made an appearance in their organization.

Windy City Thunderbolts

After being released by the

, Diggins signed with the Independent

Windy City Thunderbolts The Windy City ThunderBolts are a professional baseball team based in the Chicago suburb of Crestwood, Illinois, in the United States. The ThunderBolts are a member of the Frontier League, which is a partner league of Major League Baseball. Sinc ...

of the

Frontier League The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...

as a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. His transition soon led to his retirement. After just 17 games Diggins batted .209 with one

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 9

RBIs A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diggins, Ben 1979 births Living people Arizona League Brewers players Arizona Wildcats baseball players Baseball players from Kansas Brevard County Manatees players Huntsville Stars players Los Angeles Angels scouts Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim scouts Major League Baseball pitchers Milwaukee Brewers players University of Arizona alumni Vero Beach Dodgers players Wilmington Waves players Windy City ThunderBolts players People from Wichita County, Kansas Anchorage Glacier Pilots players