A Leake In The Strasburg Express

Twenty-four hours after the euphoric Major League debut of Stephen Strasburg in Washington D.C., talking heads are putting their stamp of approval on this kid as the next great pitcher in MLB history. If you listen to some, they are already preparing their ballots for Cooperstown when Strasburg finishes up his Hall of Fame career even with only 7 innings of 14 K, 0 BB baseball in the books. Ever since he was drafted No. 1 overall from San Diego State and aligned himself with Scott Boras, it was only a matter of time before he would make it to the Nationals and take the league by storm. During all this hubbub and frenzy, a 5'10'' pitcher from Arizona State was cooly and calmly going about his business of winning baseball games and pitching suberbly in his rookie season. With all the Strasburg hype he has slipped through the mainstream sports media cracks. Who is this you ask? The pitcher I am talking about is Mike Leake of the Cincinnati Reds.

Leake drew attention while pitching for the Arizona State Sun Devils in undoubtedly the toughest conference in all of Division 1 Baseball - the Pac-10. While pitching for the Sun Devils in 2009, Leake posted a mark of 16-1, 1.71 ERA, and 162 Ks while holding batters to a .193 average. Due to his excellence Leake was selected 8th overall in the 2009 draft by the Cincinnati Reds. Stat wise, one would think that he would be in contention for the top spot when you compare his stats to Strasburg's. However, that was not the case because of one thing: speed. Leake's fastball generally clocks in around 88-90 with a lot of movement. His change up is in the low 80's and he can throw a slider in the upper 70s. Leake doesn't need the speed; he uses location and movement to get batters out.

To me, it is a travesty that Leake is not garnering the same, if not MORE attention than Stephen Strasburg. I'm not advocating ESPN put up a ticker on the left side of the screen whenever Leake starts but give the kid some credit. Unlike Strasburg, Leake went straight to the majors with NO minor league seasoning. He made the team right out of Spring Training because (and this pains me to say it) Dusty Baker knew what he was doing. Forget his past accusations of ruining good pitching arms; that has been disproven.

Leake's first start as a professional was not down in Louisville against the Columbus Clippers or Toledo Mud Hens, it was against the Chicago Cubs and their power bunch of Lee, Ramirez and Soriano. So how did the kid fair in his first professional start, EVER? 6 2/3 innings, 1 ER, 4 H and 5 K. Not a bad start for your debut in the majors. After that start, Leake has gone 5-0 and gotten his ERA down to 2.22. His ERA has never gotten into the 4's, every start has been over 6 innings with 6 of those extending into the 7th and a few going into the 8th.

People get so wrapped up in the flashy stats and reading of speed and strikeouts, because that is what is sexy and gets you on the Sportscenter highlights. That is what got Strasburg the record-setting contract from the Nationals and the nationwide attention last night. To me, that is a shame though. They are basing this all on potential, and although his start was great for a debut, it is a great travesty to basically ignore what Leake is doing in Cincinnati. Maybe if the media would get their head out of their behinds and look at the stats rather than the radar readings and hype machines they could witness what is the REAL story going on in baseball this season amongst the rookies. The story is Mike Leake, starting for the Reds only one year out of Pac-10 baseball and leading starters in ERA with no losses - and more importantly leading the Reds to first place. Such an ascension has not been made in 21 years. Strasburg had to refine his skills in AA and AAA before arriving in Washington last night. Leake had to refine his skills against the Cubs, Pirates, Cardinals, Dodgers, Astros, Mets, Braves and Nationals.

If you ask me, it is more impressive that Leake has gone 5-0 in his first professional season then Strasburg going through AA and AAA ball, then fanning 14 in 7 vs. the Pirates. There should absolutely be no talk of Strasburg being the next Nolan Ryan or Cy Young until he can prove himself outside of one start against the absolute worst offensive team in baseball. Talk to me after Strasburg has pitched 10+ games before I will join everyone else in bowing at his killer right arm. Until I see any different, Mike Leake is far and away better than Strasburg. Wake up and start tuning into Reds baseball starting tomorrow and every fifth game; the real story is located 517 miles due West of Washington DC in Cincinnati, and his name is Mike Leake.