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Unflashy Leake impressing in Reds camp

Top pick making name even as Chapman earns buzz

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By Tom Singer / MLB.com

03/10/10 9:50 PM ET

TEMPE, Ariz. -- If Mike Leake keeps this up, he'll blow his cover as "the other guy."

It would appear to be pretty difficult to tiptoe through pro baseball infancy as the overall eighth pick in the 2009 First-Year Player Draft, but that becomes quite easy for the Reds' No. 1 pick when his pro debut stage includes the nation's No. 1 overall pick and his Spring Training camp includes the, well, perceived global No. 1.

So it has gone for Leake, who began his rapid rise in the Arizona Fall League under Stephen Strasburg's shadow and is continuing it in the Cactus League amid Aroldis Chapman hysteria.

That's in strict accordance with baseball law. Strasburg and Chapman are physically imposing young men who crank radar guns up to triple digits. Leake is a slight figure who threads needles with stuff. If his fastball were to race Strasburg's, you'd have to spot it 20 of the 60 1/2 feet.

But while Leake doesn't make the best first impression, he makes the lasting impression. That's always been his tradition, one he appeared prepared to continue Wednesday in hurling two middle innings of the Reds' 6-0 Cactus League victory over the Angels.

"I'm seeing what the scouts had given me [in their reports]," Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker said after Leake and four other of his pitchers had impressively combined to three-hit the Angels.

All Leake does with his modest build and precise stuff is get people out and win. On Wednesday, he retired six of the seven people he faced in a two-inning shutout stint within a Texas Leaguer of where he had achieved collegiate stardom as an Arizona State Sun Devil.

From Sun Devil Stadium to Tempe Diablo Stadium ... a devilish time for hitters in any language.

"It was fun to pitch and face some Major Leaguers in my second home," said Leake, who grew up in the San Diego area. "It was kind of a dream come true."

Leake stretched his scoreless Spring Training to two appearances and three innings a few miles off-campus, but distance traveled is a matter of interpretation. Those few miles also took him from Crusaders (Holy Cross) and Panthers (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) to Bobby Abreu and Kendry Morales.

Entering in the fourth in the wake of starter Mike Lincoln and lefty reliever Arthur Rhodes, Leake got to face the top of the Angels' order. Just as he wanted.

"I hoped it'd be the big guys," he said. "That's what I needed, so I'd know what I'm up against when I get to that plateau."

Wish granted: Leake fanned Erick Aybar swinging, issued a walk to the patient Abreu but erased him on the double-play grounder induced from Morales, retired World Series MVP Hideki Matsui on a high pop to center, got Juan Rivera on a line drive to third and, after Mike Napoli singled off third baseman Juan Francisco's glove, got Brandon Wood on a fly to left.

"It was nice to face people I'd seen on television for a long time," Leake said.

He has done nothing to argue that the cameras should not be trained on him, and soon, since turning pro -- or, for that matter, long before.

Leake laid low following his August signing, taking a break after a 142-inning campaign with Arizona State for a 16-1 record that ran his collegiate total to 40 wins in 47 starts.

He then limbered up in the AFL, where his 1.37 ERA in five starts dwarfed Strasburg's own pro introduction.

And now 10 batters faced in the Cactus League, nine retired.

The battle for the No. 5 slot in the Reds' rotation is just beginning. The contestants include Lincoln, who also excelled in Wednesday's start with two hitless innings, and Chapman.

Baker shook off as too premature the question of whether Leake could make his staff.

"Let him pitch. [I] don't want to put any pressure on him," the manager said.

Leake volunteered for the burden of expectations early, admitting upon his arrival in the Reds' Goodyear camp that he was "definitely aiming that high."

"I realize my chances aren't as great as some of the guys. I basically have to come out and wow people and show them what I can do," he had added.

Baker is not surprised that Leake wants it -- nor that he has no problems with those other marquee guys scoring higher wow-factors.

"I don't think he's an 'attention' guy. But he has that quiet confidence, and a great idea at such a young age of how to pitch," Baker said. "Unlike most guys, he recognizes very quickly how a hitter reacts to certain pitches, and he reacts accordingly. He's cool, real cool."

Fellow pitcher Bronson Arroyo was among the first to pick up on the assurance with which Leake comports himself.

"I like this young man," Bronson had said after spending only a few minutes around him. "I've never seen him pitch, but I like him."

Now that he has seen the young man pitch, Arroyo presumably likes him even more.

Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.