Former Phillies, Mets, Red Sox Pitcher Announces Retirement
Jake Diekman has announced his retirement, ending a career that began in 2012 and saw him pitch for nine major league teams over 13 seasons.
The left-hander did not sign a contract after he was released by the Atlanta Braves in March, and on Friday announced he won't seek another.
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"The time has come for me to retire as a Major League Baseball player," Diekman wrote in a post on his Twitter/X account. "Thank you, God, for this life and being able to live out my wildest dream. From being in kindergarten and writing down that I wanted to be a baseball player when I grow up, to not even having a high school baseball team and just playing legion in the summer. 'Making it' to the big leagues seemed like such a pipe dream."
Diekman, 38, retires with a 27-34 record, 3.91 ERA in 705 career games with the Philadelphia Phillies (2012-15), Texas Rangers (2015-18), Arizona Diamondbacks (2018), Kansas City Royals (2019), Oakland A's (2019-21), Boston Red Sox (2022), Chicago White Sox (2022-23), Tampa Bay Rays (2023), and New York Mets (2024).
In his last full big league season, Diekman was 2-3 with a 5.63 ERA in 43 appearances out of the Mets' bullpen last year.
Diekman signed a minor league contract with the Braves in February and was invited to the team's major league spring training camp. He made seven appearances with Atlanta in Grapefruit League play, allowing six hits and four runs in 7.1 innings.
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The Braves released Diekman midway through spring training on March 19, effectively ending his career.
Diekman made 14 postseason appearances in his career but never advanced beyond the Division Series round with the Rangers (2015-16), A's (2019-20) or Rays (2023). He was not included on the Mets' postseason roster last year.
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In his retirement post, Diekman specifically thanked each of the teams for whom he pitched even an inning.
The journey began when the Phillies drafted Diekman in the 30th round of the 2007 MLB Draft out of Cloud County (Kansas) Community College. Seven years later, Diekman relieved starter Cole Hamels in what would become the first combined no-hitter in franchise history.
"Thank you to the Phillies for taking a shot on a 30th-round guy out of small-town Nebraska that looked like Skeletor," Diekman wrote on Twitter/X. "Making my big league debut with the most veteran team imaginable at that point was surreal. I'll never forget being a part of the 2014 no-hitter."
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