Cool Leake story from USA Today...
CINCINNATI — There isn't a soul who recognizes Mike Leake during his lunch at a popular riverfront restaurant, but, out of the corner of his eye, he sees a man slowly coming in his direction.
Leake puts down his pork ribs, wipes the barbecue sauce from his hands and is ready to sign an autograph when the words tumble out of the restaurant employee's mouth.
"Would you like a Cincinnati Reds schedule?" the man asks.
Leake looks up, nods "no" as if he were a salesman passing through town, grabs another rib and breaks into a sheepish grin.
After all, Leake is the first rookie pitcher in Reds history to be undefeated (4-0, 2.45 ERA) after 10 starts and perhaps the finest rookie pitcher in a deep class this season. He's coming off a heralded collegiate career at Arizona State, where in three seasons he posted a 40-6 record and helped the Sun Devils win three Pacific-10 titles and reach two College World Series.
And he's a San Diego-area kid about to make his next professional start in Washington, D.C.
Only his name isn't Stephen Strasburg.
Strasburg was Leake's teammate from his 11-year-old traveling team, a pitcher whom Leake remembers as a fat kid who cried when coming out of games.
"He was overweight, pouty and used to cry. He did a complete 180," Leake says of Strasburg, who acknowledged in an April 2009 USA TODAY interview that he was 25 pounds overweight and immature when he entered San Diego State. "It's amazing how he changed."
There was a ticket frenzy for the Reds series this weekend in Washington, with fans thinking that Strasburg — signed to a $15.1 million deal after the Nationals made him the No. 1 pick one year ago — was going to be making his major league debut.
For a time it appeared the two might face off. Instead, Leake pitches Saturday; Strasburg's debut is scheduled for Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. That game already is a sellout.
"Too bad," says Leake, 22. "It would have been pretty cool to face him. It would be a nice little competition. That's all right. I'm sure we'll eventually meet up."
Leake smirks and says no more. But in the back of his mind, Leake's friends and family say, he has no doubt he'll beat him.
"It's not a cocky thing at all. It's just that confidence he has," says brother Ryan, 26, the pitching coach at Cal-San Diego. "It was the same thing when he showed up this spring. He knew he belonged. He didn't think there was any need to pitch in the minors."
While Strasburg has spent the last two months barnstorming through Class AA and AAA, Leake is doing what no rookie starter has done in 21 years. He has stepped straight from college baseball into the big leagues — carving up the National League with nine quality starts and emerging as the ace of a team that leads the NL Central by one game.
"Those fans who bought all of those tickets are going to get to see the other guy," Reds outfielder Jay Bruce says. "Our guy. The guy who is doing all of this without spending a single day in the minors. Now that's a story."
Mixing, matching his pitches
Leake, with long, sandy-brown hair, a shaggy goatee and flip-flops, looks more like a kid who rode his skateboard to class than a major league pitcher.
The Reds media guide lists him at 6-1, 190 pounds.
The reality, he says, is he's 5-10½, 175 pounds.
Maybe that's why no one paid him much attention this spring. Not the news media. Not the fans. Hardly even the Reds.
They had their Strasburg after signing Aroldis Chapman, the Cuban defector with a 100-mph fastball, to a four-year, $30 million deal over the winter.
There were no breathless dispatches on Leake from spring training.
"He looked like a surfer kid from SoCal," manager Dusty Baker says. "He didn't say much, but you could tell he was cool."
He was selected eighth overall in the 2009 draft and received a $2.3 million signing bonus, dwarfed by Strasburg's deal.
He was still living at his parents' home in Fallbrook, Calif., having Ken Griffey Jr. posters on his bedroom wall, and driving his folks' 1998 Honda Accord.
"I hope I never become a guy that plays the game for the money," Leake says. "I play the game because I love it. I'd love to be one of those guys that stays on the same team for 15 years. I'd love to win here."
Leake is the 21st player to go straight to the big leagues since the inception of the draft in 1965 and the first collegiate starting pitcher since 1989, when Jim Abbott made the leap from Michigan and the 1988 Olympics.
"We got everyone here talking about those long bus rides in the minors, winter ball and having to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches," outfielder Jonny Gomes says, "and he's talking about ASU and the College World Series. He can't relate."
Says Leake: "Guys will get on me and say, 'Hey, Leake, tell us about those days in the minors.' What can I say? I just yell back, 'Can't tell you, buddy.' "
On the mound, there is no need for words. He has pitched at least six innings in each of his 10 starts, yielding a .243 batting average. He barely throws 92 mph but has confidence to throw any variation of his pitches — fastball, cutter, sinker, slider, changeup — in any count.
"I know people love the guys who throw 100 mph," Leake says, "but I'm glad I'm not a flamethrower. I'm glad I have the ability to mix and match and out-think the hitter."
It's Leake's deception, movement, change of speed and command that drive hitters crazy.
"I wanted to kill him," Houston Astros hitting coach Sean Berry says. "It shouldn't be that easy. He shouldn't be this good, this soon."
Says Astros center fielder Michael Bourn: "The first time I saw him, I struck out all three times. I can't believe that he's never been in the minor leagues."
General manager Walt Jocketty says the Reds were told by scouting director Chris Buckley that Leake was the collegiate pitcher most prepared for the majors. Still, after he didn't sign until August and pitched a handful of games in the Arizona Fall League, no one envisioned him bypassing the minor leagues.
"I was a real late sell," pitching coach Bryan Price says. "But the longer the spring went on .... He's handled himself beyond anything I could have imagined."
The Reds have been cautious with Leake. He's thrown fewer than 100 pitches in seven of 10 outings. Unlike many clubs bringing along young pitchers, like the Nationals with Strasburg, they don't have an innings limit on Leake, but his Saturday start at Washington will be the fifth time he has received at least one extra day between starts.
"He's not a strongly built young man," Baker says, "so we're staying on top of his pitch counts."
Leake, who had the word "Believe" tattooed over the right side of his rib cage, never had doubts. "I always thought I could do it," he says, "even if nobody else did. I just have some weird inner confidence that gets me going."
His audacity served him well in his major league debut.
Debut cap goes to Hall of Fame
In Leake's first professional inning, he loaded the bases full of Chicago Cubs with none out. Jocketty cringed. The rookie's dad, Chris Leake, says he buried his head in his hands.
Leake calmly got Aramis Ramirez to pop up, struck out Marlon Byrd and induced a fly ball from Alfonso Soriano. He gave up four hits and one earned run in 6⅔ innings and collected two hits.
Leake donated his cap to the Hall of Fame after the game, and the family went to celebrate by stopping off at the gift shop to buy jerseys. They found plenty of Chapman jerseys, none of Leake.
"We asked if they had any Leake jerseys," Chris Leake says, "and they told us, 'No. We just carry the jerseys from the players and the top prospects.' I don't think they even knew he was on the team. It was pretty funny."
It's no big deal to Leake.
"I'll just stay behind and watch everybody ride the wave," Leake says. "I can catch the next one."
His actions seem to match that even keel. He readily performs rookie tasks such as ensuring cold beer is available on team flights and serving veterans cheese plates while clad in an apron.
He bought a $325,000 house in south Phoenix at an auction and added a deck, gazebo and cabinets himself. In Cincinnati, he shares an apartment with reliever Mike Lincoln, who notes Leake's maturity despite a 13-year age difference.
Even at the plate, Leake has a knack for seeming wise beyond his years. He's hitting .381.
An air of self-assuredness doesn't hurt, either.
"They say the toughest thing about being in the big leagues is feeling that you belong," Baker says. "There's no doubt he belongs. And he knows it."
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/reds/2010-06-02-mike-leake-cover_N.htm
