All-Star Game MVP Elias Diaz wanted to put his name on the map
The 2023 MLB All-Star Game went down to the wire on Tuesday night.
With the American League up 2-1 in the top of the eighth, Colorado Rockies catcher Elias Diaz changed the tide for the National League.
Facing a 2-2 count with Orioles closer Felix Bautista on the mound, Diaz blasted a hanging splitter 360 feet. The dinger put the NL up 3-2 and earned Diaz All-Star Game MVP honors.
“I feel like I went in with a really good plan,” Diaz said, per MLB.com. “Just talking with the hitting coach, he showed me the numbers, kind of showed me the plan. I was looking for a specific pitch; I was able to get it and connect."
Diaz said when he was rounding the bases he was "overwhelmed with emotion."
He is the first Rockies catcher to appear in an All-Star Game, and now his feat will go down in history as an all-timer in the Midsummer Classic. The significance of the moment wasn't lost on Diaz, who envisioned a big performance from himself leading up to that at-bat.
“Obviously I was aware that I was the first Rockies catcher to be an All-Star; I took a lot of pride in that,” he said. “I wanted to make the Rockies proud and put my name on the map, and now history is continuing to write itself with the MVP.”
Diaz told National League manager Rob Thomson that he was happy to be there and would do whatever was necessary to help the team win. Thomson clearly believed in Diaz, and a conversation Thomson had with Rockies manager Bud Black helped with that confidence, too.
“I talked to Bud Black about Elias,” Thomson said. “He said, ‘This is one of the finest people you'll ever meet. He's a complete team player.’ For him to do that, it's fantastic.”
Diaz is just the sixth player in All-Star Game history to hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning or later. Joining a group that includes Mike Schmidt and Ted Williams isn't too shabby.
The 32-year-old backstop is having a career year, batting .277 with nine home runs and 45 RBI.
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