A couple of days ago, Kyle Gunderson made the jump from High A Jupiter to AAA New Orleans, within the Florida Marlins organization. Now, Gundy is only one level away from the MLB. We believe that our next player to receive a call-up this year will be Dan Leatherman, who is currently with the High A Potomac Nationals. Dan is having a tremendous year, with the highest total of logged innings in Potomac. He is also sporting a 3.12 ERA with 54 strikeouts, and 20 walks in 57.2 innings pitched. Yesterday, he picked up his 4th save of the season after pitching two innings of no run ball. Here is part of what Robert Daski of the News & Messenger had to say:
Dan Leatherman stood to the right of the gate on the first side of Pfitzner Stadium signing autographs for children following his two-inning performance on Tuesday afternoon.
It is Leatherman’s custom to sign baseballs and cards and mingle with fans after games.
“It’s nice to hear fans telling you, ‘good job,’” Leatherman said. “That’s the reason why we’re here. We’re here for the fans.”
On this day, the Potomac Nationals relief pitcher earned the right to take a break from baseball after recording his fourth save this year.
His two scoreless innings, highlighted by Michael Burgess’s second spectacular catch of the game, helped the Nationals defeat the Frederick Keys 4-3 in game one of the three-game series.
Leatherman, a Frederick, Md. native, was the last of six pitchers Potomac manager Trent Jewett used. Combined, Potomac’s pitching staff was not great. It issued seven walks, hit two batters, allowed a home run and uncorked a wild pitch.
