PHOENIX -- When Drey Jameson first got to the big leagues in September 2022, it seemed like he was there to stay.
The right-hander was called up by the Diamondbacks and made four starts, going 3-0 with a 1.48 ERA, and any projection of a future Arizona rotation had him in it.
Jameson was shifted to the bullpen out of Spring Training in 2023 and made 15 appearances, including three starts, before his right elbow blew out. The resulting Tommy John surgery would cost him all of the 2024 season.
More injury and command issues in 2025 limited him to just three Major League relief appearances and 16 games in the Minors. A Botox injection helped get Jameson back on the mound in the Arizona Fall League, where he once again was able to hit the upper 90s with his fastball.
Still, he was sent down well before Opening Day this past spring and stayed with Triple-A Reno until being recalled prior to Saturday's game against the Nationals, in which he tossed the ninth inning of the Diamondbacks' 6-1 loss at Chase Field.
A hot starting pitching prospect in 2022, Jameson is now 28 and trying to get a footing in the big leagues as a reliever. Did he think he was here to stay after the way the end of the '22 season went?
"That was the plan," Jameson said. "God had different plans for me. It's been a lot of battling. It's more of like, I wouldn't say physical grind -- I mean it is a physical grind -- but I would say it's more of mental grind. Because it's like you feel like you have it, and then one day you do, and then the next day it's like you feel like you don't. So you go through that, and I feel like I went through that in '25, you know? The ups and the downs, the inconsistency."
The Diamondbacks called Jameson up Saturday after right-hander Kade Strowd, who had been called up prior to Friday night's game, struggled with his command and complained of having a "dead arm" during the appearance before being optioned back to Reno.
Jameson is completely healthy now, but in order to stay in the Majors, he knows he has to throw strikes. In his outing Saturday, he walked two and allowed a pair of runs on two hits with one strikeout in one inning of work.
"I know I have the stuff," Jameson said. "I know my pitches can work, but you got to let them work, and that's throwing strikes. Before, I'm just kind of gripping it and ripping it and seeing what happens. Now it's more like, 'Hey, it doesn't matter how hard you throw, doesn't matter how nasty your stuff is if you don't throw it for strikes.'"