Kevin Malloy worked in the Blue Jays clubhouse at the time, before moving to his current role of senior manager on the visitors’ side. He let Diamante work in the wives’ lounge and kept players aware of his schedule. The team had a regular barber at their spring training complex in Dunedin, but things were looser in Toronto. Jose Bautista often brought in his own man, as did Jose Reyes, but there wasn’t a “main guy” until Diamante came along. “It’s an art for him. You can tell it’s not just a haircut, it’s an art form,” Malloy says. “Players really like him. They’re very comfortable with him.”

Pillar has known Diamante since 2014 and describes their connection as more friendship than working relationship. The two stay in touch during the off-season and meet up whenever Diamante visits Pillar’s home state of California. In-season, Pillar will sometimes stop by Throne or invite the barber to hang out at his home. “It’s just good conversation,” Pillar says. “He’s got a lot of other interests besides cutting hair. He’s a foodie, too. So, it’s always nice to talk about different restaurants in the city, places that he’s been.”

The centre-fielder usually gets a Diamante cut once each homestand and rarely seeks out a touch up from other barbers on the road. “He’s been kind enough to make himself available to us pretty much every home game,” says Pillar. “He’s always here. Takes time out of his busy, busy schedule to be here for us. We appreciate it.”

At the Letters Ben Nicholson-Smith is Sportsnet’s baseball editor. Arden Zwelling is a senior writer. Together, they bring you the most in-depth Blue Jays podcast in the league, covering off all the latest news with opinion and analysis, as well as interviews with other insiders and team members.

Diamante, who isn’t employed by the Blue Jays and is paid on a per cut basis, watches every road game the team plays and keeps tabs on whose hair is getting long and which fades require clippers. “After you have a good game, you normally can come in and bank on a text message from Josh with something positive,” Devon Travis, the team’s second baseman, says. “Just a good, fun guy who can really cut hair.”

Diamante especially enjoys working on beards, which earned him favour with Bautista. “Bautista does always have probably the cleanest beard in the game when it’s done,” says Travis, who also sports facial hair. “Josh takes his time when he does the beard. It’s something for sure that stands out on a baseball player. We have hats on most of the time, so the beard game has got to be on-point.”

Martin says Diamante stands out because of his versatility and mastery of so many different types of hair lengths, styles and textures. The catcher will often ask Diamante for an opinion before deciding on one of his frequent hairstyle changes. “He’s got creativity and imagination and, obviously, he’s got skill as well,” says Martin. “Guys get along with him. Super nice guy, down to earth … a class act human being.”