Alon Leichman

From BR Bullpen

Alon Barak Leichman

BR Minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Alon Leichman was the second-youngest player in the 2007 Israel Baseball League. The teenager was 2 for 7 at the plate for the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox but allowed 26 runs, 24 hits and 13 walks in 8 innings pitched, striking out seven. He also is a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu. In 2008, he participated in the MLB European Academy, the first Israeli to do so. In the 2008 European Championship Qualifiers, he was 1 for 8 with 4 walks and 4 runs at the plate. On the hill, he struck out nine and allowed six walks, seven hits and five runs (three earned) in nine innings. He started against host Croatia and battled Ernesto Pereira to a 1-1 score after six innings before fading and taking the loss. He pitched for the Eagles Praha in the Czech Extraliga in 2010, working 3 shutout innings and going 0 for 4 at the plate.

After his military service, he came to the US to continue his baseball career. As a freshman at Cypress College in 2011, he tossed 1 1/3 shutout innings with three strikeouts before Tommy John surgery ended his season. Leichman could not pitch in the 2011 European Championship Qualifiers due to the surgery, but did play at DH. He hit .222/.364/.389 with four runs and four RBI in five games. Israel fell one win shy of making the 2012 European Championship, losing out to Britain.

In the 2014 C-Level European Championship, he excelled in the championship game against Slovenia (1 H, 1 BB, 9 K in 7 IP). He allowed five runs (four earned) in eight innings against Poland in a no-decision in the 2015 B-Level European Championship; Shlomo Lipetz got the win in relief. He was 7-2 with a 3.71 ERA for UCSD that season, his first healthy one in the US college ranks. In 2016, he had a 3-4, 3.41 record as a senior at UCSD.

Immediately after graduating, Leichman moved into the coaching ranks. He was an assistant coach for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox during the 2016 Cape Cod League when the team won their third consecutive league championship. In the fall of 2016 he was bullpen coach for Israel in the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers before serving in the same role during the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

The Seattle Mariners hired Leichman in 2017 as the Coordinator of Organizational Learning. He returned to the field in 2018 as pitching coach of the DSL Mariners. Leichman was pitching coach of the West Virginia Power in 2019. He was scheduled to be pitching coach of the Arkansas Travelers in 2020 before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19, then did coach Arkansas in 2021. He moved to the apex of the Mariners' minor league system in 2022 when he coached Tacoma Rainiers pitchers. After the season he coached the Peoria Javelinas in the Arizona Fall League.

In 2023 he was named assistant pitching coach with the Cincinnati Reds, a role he repeated in 2024.

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