Jake Diekman Signs With American Association’s Lincoln Saltdogs

The Lincoln Saltdogs of the independent American Association announced last week that they have signed veteran left-hander Jake Diekman. The southpaw is a Nebraska native and spoke to Chase Matteson of 10/11 News about the homecoming.

“Pitch in front of my family, my friends,” Diekman said, “people who haven’t really watched me pitch in a while, yeah, it’ll be fun.” Diekman also spoke about the opportunity to impart some wisdom to the younger players on the team.

Now 38, Diekman pitched in the majors in each season from 2012 to 2024. He generally found success with a high number of strikeouts, working around a large number of walks. He has logged 602 1/3 innings in the big leagues with a 3.91 earned run average, 28.7% strikeout rate, 13.4% walk rate and 46.9% ground ball rate. He earned 19 saves and 187 holds along the way.

With the Mets last year, his ERA jumped to 5.63 and he was released in August. He stayed unsigned until the winter, when he landed a minor league deal with Atlanta. He was in camp with them as of last month, but they released him ahead of Opening Day.

Diekman has decided to land closer to home. He was born and raised in Wymore, Nebraska, which is about an hour’s drive from Lincoln. The Saltdogs start their season just over a week from now, on May 9th. Perhaps Diekman will pitch well enough to get offers to return to affiliated ball, but he might also be content to be back in his home state and around some familiar faces.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images.