Catching On: Leslie Settling In Behind the Plate
Ed Ott (left), a former major league backstop, has helped Myron Leslie develop in his first season as a starting catcher
Story and photo by Andrew Prezioso.
New Jersey Jackals catcher Myron Leslie is a work in progress. Although that may sound strange for a 28-year-old player in his eighth professional season, Leslie is learning as he goes how to be a catcher in his first full season behind the plate.
Leslie, the Jackals’ opening day catcher, only caught occasionally in practice in high school and college to showcase his skills for scouts before being drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the eighth round of the 2004 MLB Draft as an infielder. It wasn’t until the New York Yankees purchased his contract from the Jackals in March 2010 that Leslie started to catch in games at the professional level.
He started the 2011 season with the Trenton Thunder, the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate, but was released after appearing in three games and not playing catcher. But when he was re-signed by New Jersey on May 24, Leslie was thrust into the starting catcher role, which has yielded good results so far.
“Now, I’m even more comfortable than I was at the beginning of the year and at the beginning of the year, I was miles ahead of where I was last year,” Leslie said. “Now I definitely feel like a catcher and even in a few weeks of the season so far I feel like I’ve progressed even more.”
A big reason that Leslie has advanced as a catcher is because of New Jersey pitching coach Ed Ott, a former catcher with the Pittsburgh Pirates and California Angels. Ott, who caught 502 games over a seven-year major league career, had a similar experience as Leslie. Prior to being called up to the Pirates in 1975, Ott, who began his career as an outfielder, had spent just one season behind the plate. Ott’s experience transitioning to a physically and mentally demanding position has helped him in teaching Leslie.
“I think it took me two weeks to figure out I was supposed to keep my eyes open,” Ott said. However, the coach said that his transition was made easier because he was playing in Triple-A where pitchers had better control of their pitches than in a league like the Can-Am where pitchers still have the tendency to lose command.
One thing that Ott tried to fix right away was Leslie’s glove position. Ott said that Leslie had been taught to be a ‘turtle’, or a tall catcher who an organization had tried to make small.
“That’s not exactly what you want,” Ott said. “You want that big, square frame back there for pitchers to throw to. It also makes him a lot better on balls above his head.”
This year has not always been smooth for Leslie. In a game against Pittsfield this month, Leslie was charged with four passed balls, which Ott attributed to Leslie going back to his ‘turtle’ ways.
Despite those struggles, Leslie didn’t let it affect him.
“He kept a positive attitude,” Ott said. “As a matter of fact, he walked into the office and told our manager, Joe Calfapietra, that it won’t happen again. He said that he got a little tired and lazy back there and things happened.”
“It’s one position where you can’t take a pitch off.”
Coming out of college, some teams looked at Leslie as a catcher, something that he said he was a little hesitant about doing because of all the work associated with it. And even though he had seven years of professional experience and undergone a number of position changes before, those changes did not provide him any advantage in his latest move.
“It’s definitely completely different than anything else,” Leslie said. “I almost feel like all the other position changes I had, I could take certain things from there. Pretty much the only things I could take [to catcher] were things I could naturally do, just natural athleticism and arm strength. I had to learn from the beginning how to be a catcher.”
Leslie has also had to learn how to deal with a pitching staff. He has to figure out the best way to get out the opposing lineup in a variety of circumstances, which has added to the mental strain of catching. But while that has added more to his transition, it has also aided him at the plate. He is hitting .290 this year and has hit four homeruns with 16 RBI.
“Even though you are a little beat up and tired, you’re constantly in the ballgame, you’re constantly thinking of what pitches to throw to set hitters up and you utilize that at the offensive end,” said Ott, who hit .259 during his big league career. “That’s why he’s done so well at the offensive end this year; he’s relating to calling the pitches, calling ballgames and expecting what they’re going to throw in a given situation.”
But it will take more than a better offensive approach for Leslie to get re-signed by another organization. He still has to improve in some areas, such as blocking balls in the dirt, according to Ott, before another team gives him another chance. Ott said that if Leslie continues to progress at his current rate though, he expects the Florida native to get picked up again.
“As far as the progress that he’s made so far since he’s been here, I think he’ll be ready next year,” Ott said.
Although Leslie said that he tries not to think about how close he is to being signed by another team, he does use it as motivation.
“I try to remember that I’m playing for something,” Leslie said. “Sometimes the grind of the season, you get going through the motions and all that, you have to have different ways of getting going.”
