Full Name: John Victor Leathersich

Listed At: 5’11” 205 lbs

Born: July 14^th, 1990 in Beverly, MA

Drafted By: New York Mets in 5^th Round (162^nd overall) of the 2011 MLB Amateur Draft

Signed With Mets for a bonus of $110,000

 2001 Stats with Class A Short Season Brooklyn:

 1 save, 0-0 record 12.2 innings 6 hits 1 run 3 walks 26 strikeouts. 0.71 WHIP, 4.3 hits per 9, 0.0 HR per 9, 2.1 walks per 9, and a whopping 18.5 strikeouts per 9.

 After being drafted out of Division II UMass-Lowell this year, Leathersich was designated to the Brooklyn bullpen due to a big workload in college. Coming out of the bullpen Leathersich reportedly touched 98 mph, while also throwing a slider that at times is plus. At UMass-Lowell this year he reportedly touched 95 as a starter, so his stuff clearly ticks up in short stints.

 Granted it was a small sample size, Leathersich struck out over 50% of the batters he faced which is phenomenal. The plan reportedly is for Leathersich to report to Low-A full season Savannah as a starting pitcher. Then after 100 innings they plan to fast track him as a reliever. This is unless he is so dominant as a starter that they let him keep going. In order to remain a starter

 The knocks on Leathersich are his size and his inconsistent delivery. This leads to his slider being inconsistent, as he doesn’t stay on top of it. If the Mets and Leathersich can smooth out the mechanical inconsistencies you are looking at, in my eyes a great late inning left handed reliever of the Jonny Venters mold. A “plus” fastball to go with a “plus” slider is more than enough for a reliever to dominate. Look at Billy Wagner.

I have high hopes for Leathersich and expect him to make a relatively quick transition through the Mets minors, possibly debuting in Queens sometime in 2013. Leathersich is also a very active user on Twitter (@LeatherRocket). You can follow him and learn about his love of the Patriots, and he did a great job of keeping people in the loop last season with pictures from Brooklyn and updates. Imagine it will be mighty fun to follow him for an entire season on there.