Central Michigan University Athletics
Photo by: Mary Lewandowski
The Long Run
5/21/2019 11:31:00 AM | Baseball
Steady, resilient, durable Pat Leatherman a rock of CMU baseball program
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Pat Leatherman has started a lot in his days at Central Michigan.
Prior to the 2019 season, he made another important start: running.
He came into the season some 35 pounds lighter than he has been throughout his collegiate career. He now tips the scales at just north of 200 pounds which, stretched over his 6-foot-4 frame, gives him the lean look of a basketball shooting guard as opposed to the 'old' Pat Leatherman, who was built like a linebacker.
Clearly, whatever Leatherman has done, has worked. A strong case could be made that the fifth-year senior from Jenison is the best pitcher in the Mid-American Conference as he shares the league lead with teammate Cam Brown with nine wins (against just one loss). He is second in the conference with a 2.38 earned run average and, as CMU's Friday starter, led it to its first MAC regular-season championship since 2015.
The Chippewas go into the MAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed, and Leatherman will get the ball when they open on Thursday (2 p.m.) at Sprenger Stadium in Avon, Ohio.
Leatherman said the impetus for running came from the New York Times best-selling book, 'Can't Hurt Me,' by David Goggins. One of Coggins' premises, Leatherman said, Is "callusing your mind, and he found the best way to do that is when he runs."
Always looking for an edge, Leatherman tried it. He now logs more than three miles a day. The weight loss and aerobic activity has made him more fit, physically and emotionally.
"It puts you in a mental state where you are not worrying about so many outside things," Leatherman said. "You are just worried about each next step and that final distance."
Leatherman has made 60 career appearances, all of them starts, an extraordinary feat made all the more remarkable by the fact that he was a walk-on in 2015. Today, he is CMU's career leader in strikeouts with 305, is second in career innings (238 2/3), and is tied for fourth in career wins (24).
All three accomplishments exemplify Leatherman's longevity and dedication. Both traits, naturally, have become the source of a great deal of good-natured ribbing from teammates.
"Eighth-year senior? Grampa Pat?" junior third baseman Zach Heeke quipped when asked about Leatherman.
Kidding aside, Leatherman is looked up to by his teammates.
"Definitely someone we all look up to," Heeke said. "Definitely someone that if you get in a tight spot, whether it's baseball or not baseball, if it's anything, he just brings such a positive attitude to every single guy. He keeps everyone's spirits up. He's just such a great inspiration."
The Chippewa pitching staff has come to resemble the alpha dog, which is a very good development when said canine is a Pat Leatherman.
"If you watch our guys pitch, there's a pretty calm mound demeanor out there," first-year CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "Outside of occasionally thinking that he knows the strike zone a little bit better than the umpire (does), he does a really nice job with that. Not much bothers him out there, he handles adversity well. In big spots he makes his biggest pitches and that certainly trickles down. When other guys see that it's a calming influence on everybody."
Less than a month from now, Leatherman could get a call from a major league team, be it as a draftee or with a free-agent offer. But he's not thinking about that right now. His focus is on Thursday, just as his focus is on his next step when he is running.
"If it works out, it works out," he said. "At the end of the day I just want to make a run with (my teammates). If it is the end of my career after we are done then that's perfectly fine with me. … I have been here a while so it's probably good it's ending. I cannot stay here forever."
Prior to the 2019 season, he made another important start: running.
He came into the season some 35 pounds lighter than he has been throughout his collegiate career. He now tips the scales at just north of 200 pounds which, stretched over his 6-foot-4 frame, gives him the lean look of a basketball shooting guard as opposed to the 'old' Pat Leatherman, who was built like a linebacker.
Clearly, whatever Leatherman has done, has worked. A strong case could be made that the fifth-year senior from Jenison is the best pitcher in the Mid-American Conference as he shares the league lead with teammate Cam Brown with nine wins (against just one loss). He is second in the conference with a 2.38 earned run average and, as CMU's Friday starter, led it to its first MAC regular-season championship since 2015.
The Chippewas go into the MAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed, and Leatherman will get the ball when they open on Thursday (2 p.m.) at Sprenger Stadium in Avon, Ohio.
Leatherman said the impetus for running came from the New York Times best-selling book, 'Can't Hurt Me,' by David Goggins. One of Coggins' premises, Leatherman said, Is "callusing your mind, and he found the best way to do that is when he runs."
Always looking for an edge, Leatherman tried it. He now logs more than three miles a day. The weight loss and aerobic activity has made him more fit, physically and emotionally.
"It puts you in a mental state where you are not worrying about so many outside things," Leatherman said. "You are just worried about each next step and that final distance."
Leatherman has made 60 career appearances, all of them starts, an extraordinary feat made all the more remarkable by the fact that he was a walk-on in 2015. Today, he is CMU's career leader in strikeouts with 305, is second in career innings (238 2/3), and is tied for fourth in career wins (24).
All three accomplishments exemplify Leatherman's longevity and dedication. Both traits, naturally, have become the source of a great deal of good-natured ribbing from teammates.
"Eighth-year senior? Grampa Pat?" junior third baseman Zach Heeke quipped when asked about Leatherman.
Kidding aside, Leatherman is looked up to by his teammates.
"Definitely someone we all look up to," Heeke said. "Definitely someone that if you get in a tight spot, whether it's baseball or not baseball, if it's anything, he just brings such a positive attitude to every single guy. He keeps everyone's spirits up. He's just such a great inspiration."
The Chippewa pitching staff has come to resemble the alpha dog, which is a very good development when said canine is a Pat Leatherman.
"If you watch our guys pitch, there's a pretty calm mound demeanor out there," first-year CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "Outside of occasionally thinking that he knows the strike zone a little bit better than the umpire (does), he does a really nice job with that. Not much bothers him out there, he handles adversity well. In big spots he makes his biggest pitches and that certainly trickles down. When other guys see that it's a calming influence on everybody."
Less than a month from now, Leatherman could get a call from a major league team, be it as a draftee or with a free-agent offer. But he's not thinking about that right now. His focus is on Thursday, just as his focus is on his next step when he is running.
"If it works out, it works out," he said. "At the end of the day I just want to make a run with (my teammates). If it is the end of my career after we are done then that's perfectly fine with me. … I have been here a while so it's probably good it's ending. I cannot stay here forever."
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