The Atlanta Braves are looking to rebound from an injury-plagued 2024 campaign by building up their depth. Even with the injuries throughout the roster, Atlanta ended up holding a 3.32 ERA in relief, ranking them third in all of MLB. The team’s 3.41 FIP ranked No. 2.

Still, it’s never a bad idea to bring in some depth options, especially when useful veterans with lots of experience can be brought in on minor-league deals. That is what happened for Atlanta. According to Justin Toscano of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, the team has brought in three new players as non-roster invites as camp opens up, with Chad Kuhl, Jake Diekman, and Dylan Covey now in the mix.

Kuhl is a starter, while Diekman and Covey are both relief options. Diekman is the lone left-hander of the trio. According to Roster Resource on FanGraphs, they have Atlanta beginning the year with four southpaws in their bullpen, which would seem to indicate that the Braves would have more opportunities for Diekman over the course of the season if he’s performing.

Diekman, now 38, was also a member of the A’s bullpen after coming over in a trade with the Kansas City Royals in 2019. He signed a two-year deal that offseason, and went on to have a career year in the shortened 2020 campaign, posting a 0.42 ERA (2.72 FIP) after learning Chaz Roe’s slider grip off Pitching Ninja tweets. The one caveat there was that he had that excellent season across just 21.1 innings.

He followed up his tremendous 2020 campaign with a 3.86 ERA (4.46 FIP) in 60.2 frames of work.

Diekman spent the 2022 and 2023 season split been franchises, originally signing with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent in 2022, then getting traded to the Chicago White Sox, where he’d wrap-up the year, and begin his 2023 campaign. After getting released by the White Sox following a 7.94 ERA to start the year, the Tampa Bay Rays picked him up and he posted a 2.18 ERA over 45.1 innings the rest of the way.

Diekman spent the 2024 season with the New York Mets, working 32 innings and holding a 5.63 ERA (6.14 FIP). Despite the stat line, that slider/sweeper was still getting an opponent’s batting average of just .107 with an expected batting average of .169. He threw it 28.9% of the time, while relying on his four-seamer 61.2%.

The southpaw remains a relatively hard thrower, averaging 94.6 miles per hour with the heater, which is a touch above league average, ranking in the 58th percentile. His main problem last season was that his walk rate ballooned to 16.6%, which was among the worst in the league. While that number has never been in the single digits, when it starts to climb like it did in 2024, then his margin for error evaporates and he becomes less useful out of the ‘pen.

We’ll see which Jake Diekman has shown up in Braves camp once games begin, but this could be a solid underrated signing for club.