Journeyman Relief Pitcher Jake Diekman Announces Retirement From MLB

Jake Diekman, who spent last season with the New York Mets, is calling it quits after pitching for nine different franchises across 13 big league seasons.

New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets pitcher Jake Diekman (30) pitches against the San Diego Padres during the eighth inning at Citi Field. | John Jones-Imagn Images

After 13 seasons in the big leagues, Jake Diekman has decided to hang up his cleats.

Diekman, 38, last saw big league action with the New York Mets in 2024. He spent spring training with the Atlanta Braves on a minor league deal, but got released in March and signed with the Lincoln Saltdogs in the independent leagues last month.

The left-handed relief pitcher went 27-34 with a 3.91 ERA, 1.396 WHIP, 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings, 19 saves and a 3.2 WAR across 705 career appearances.

"The time has come for me to retire as a Major League Baseball player," Diekman wrote in a letter he posted to social media Friday. "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."

✌🏼it’s been a blast pic.twitter.com/klyiwduchf

— Jake Diekman (@JakeDiekman) May 23, 2025

Diekman got his start with the Philadelphia Phillies, who picked him in the 30th round of the 2007 MLB Draft then called him up for his big league debut in 2012. The Phillies held onto Diekman until the 2015 deadline, when he was traded to the Texas Rangers alongside Cole Hamels at the deadline.

The Rangers wound up flipping Diekman to the Arizona Diamondbacks at the 2018 deadline. After a brief stint there and another with the Kansas City Royals, Diekman spent three seasons with the Oakland Athletics and enjoyed a career-best 0.42 ERA and 1.4 WAR in 2020.

Diekman bounced around between the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays before making his way to the Mets.

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