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

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

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

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

in the first round of the 1998 Major League Baseball Draft, 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

in the first round of the

2000 Major League Baseball Draft The 2000 Major League Baseball draft, was the annual choosing of high school and college baseball players, held in June 2000. A total of 1,452 players were drafted. First round selections Compensation picks Background The Florida Marlins ...

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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

where he was a ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' (BA) is a sports publication company that covers baseball at every level, including Major League Baseball (MLB), with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) college, high school, and inte ...

'' 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 h ...

in . He went 7–6 with a 3.58

ERA An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

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 means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

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

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, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...

. 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 a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

. He started the game but only pitched 1, giving up eight runs, seven earned. 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, sometimes referred to as Tommy John surgery 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 body, ...

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. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

in the

Rule 5 Draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

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 Crestwood, Illinois. The ThunderBolts compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the Midwest Division. The team is owned by Franchise Sports LLC, playing its home games ...

of the

Frontier League The Frontier League (FL; French: ''Ligue Frontière'', LF) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 18 teams – 15 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The FL is one of the eight independent baseball leagues in North Ame ...

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 Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

and 9

RBIs A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...

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 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