Brent Leach

Brent Leach (born November 18, 1982 in Flowood, Mississippi) is an American pitcher in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. He played in Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers and in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Yokohama BayStars.

He went to Brandon High School in Brandon, Mississippi and attended college at the University of Southern Mississippi and Delta State University. He missed the 2004 baseball season while undergoing Tommy John Surgery but was still drafted by the Dodgers in the 6th round of the 2005 MLB Draft.

Professional career

Los Angeles Dodgers

He made his minor league debut in 2005 with the Ogden Raptors and then in 2006 spent the year with the Columbus Catfish and the Vero Beach Dodgers. In 2007, Leach he played with the Advanced A Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino, playing in 14 games. Leach played with both the 66ers and the Double-A Jacksonville Suns in 2008.

He was added to the Dodgers 40 man roster before the 2009 season and earned his first Major League call-up when the Dodgers promoted him from Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts on May 2, 2009.

Leach made his Major League debut with one scoreless inning of relief against the Washington Nationals on May 6, 2009. He made 38 appearances out of the bullpen for the Dodgers before he was sent back to the minors. He finished the season with the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes. In 2010 he began his season with Albuquerque, but was sent back to the AA Lookouts in an attempt to convert him from a reliever to a starter. In 13 starts, he was 7-3 with a 4.57 ERA.

Yokohama BayStars

On December 21, 2010, he was designated for assignment by the Dodgers and signed with the Yokohama BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball.

On March 17, 2011, in the wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami and the resulting nuclear radiation scare, Leach left the country. He said he had no desire to return and the Nippon Baseball commissioner involved a rare rule, placing Leach on the restricted list, preventing him from playing anywhere else for the duration of his two-year contract.^[1]

On July 8, Yokohama announced that they were going to reinstate Leach, as he had decided to return to Japan to pitch. He issued the following statement, "I'm really grateful to get another chance to play in Japan. Even after returning to the US, I had thoughts about playing for the Bay Stars. I made some good friends here during spring camp. I want to get to Ichi-gun as quickly as I can and do my best to help the team out."^[2] Leach started 8 games for Yokohama in 2011 and was 1-7 with a 5.95 ERA.

Return to Dodgers

Leach signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers on February 22, 2012 and was sent back to Albuquerque. He was released on May 7 after appearing in 10 games for the Isotopes with a 7.02 ERA.

Atlanta Braves

He signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves on June 21, 2012 and was assigned to the AA Mississippi Braves.

Milwaukee Brewers

Leach signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers on July 3, 2013.

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)