Charles Leblanc

Charles Leblanc

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 195 lb.
• School University of Pittsburgh
• High School Vanier College
• Debut July 30, 2022

• Born June 3, 1996 in Laval, QC CAN

BR page

Biographical Information

Charles Leblanc played for Team Canada before making his major league debut in 2022.

Leblanc was taken by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 33rd round of the 2013 amateur draft, one pick after Harrison Musgrave, out of high school. He did not sign and went on to college. He played for Canada in the 2014 U18 Pan American Championship. He came to the US for college and batted .291/.370/.429 as a freshman at Pitt.

His sophomore year, he dazzled at .405/.494/.513 with 45 runs and 46 RBI in 49 games. He had the highest average in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 7 years, since Dustin Ackley. He led the ACC in average by .023 ahead of Will Smith. He also was 4th in the ACC in OBP. He was 10th in NCAA Division I in average. He was All-ACC at short. He was the first Pitt player to make All-ACC first team since the school had joined the conference in 2014.

Charles went to the Texas Rangers in the 4th round of the 2016 amateur draft; the scout was Brian Matthews. He produced at a .285/.380/.386 clip for the Spokane Hawks that summer, fielding .920 at short. He was 9th in the Northwest League in OBP, between Cavan Biggio and Jacob Bosiokovic. In 2017, he was mostly at third base with Spokane (.190/.271/.254 in 17 G) and the Hickory Crawdads (.262/.327/.359 in 54 G).

In 2018, he split time between 3B and 2B for the Down East Wood Ducks and batted .274/.349/.412 with 27 doubles and 72 RBI. He tied Rhett Wiseman and Leody Taveras for 8th in the Carolina League in runs (65), tied for 8th in doubles, was 5th in RBI (between Gabriel Cancel and Wilson Garcia) and was 10th with 56 walks. He tied Andretty Cordero and Tyreque Reed for 4th in the Rangers chain in two-baggers, was 2nd in RBI (two behind Anderson Tejeda) and was 3rd in walks.

Leblanc spent the fall with the Surprise Saguaros, batting .292/.382/.354. In 2019, he had a .265/.329/.355 batting line for the Frisco RoughRiders, scoring 73 runs in his AA debut. He played 3B, 2B and 1B regularly and also saw action in LF and at SS. He was 6th in the Texas League in runs, between Khalil Lee and Donnie Walton, and 5th in the Rangers chain.

He then played for Canada in the 2019 Premier 12. Starting at second base, he was 1 for 9 with a walk and handled 15 chances error-free. As Canada hit .146 as a team, he outperformed some of his teammates like former major leaguer Michael Saunders and long-time Canadian team member Jordan Lennerton. His lone hit, a single off Steven Kent of Australia, was the last one for Canada, which went hitless their final five innings.

He had to sit out the 2020 season as the minor leagues were shut down by the Coronavirus pandemic. He tried to find ways to practice around his home town of Laval, QC in order to maintain his playing shape. However, that was no longer possible the following winter, as the Province of Quebec took stringent measures to stop the pandemic, including shutting down all indoor gyms. He headed down to Texas with his girlfriend by road, and hooked up with a former minor league teammate, P Blake Bass, to get ready for a possible invitation to spring training from the Rangers, which did not come. However, he started the 2021 season in AAA, with the Round Rock Express where he hit extremely well, flirting with a .400 batting average in early June. The utility man slipped from there, to .229/.313/.455 though he did hit 17 homers. He tied Leody Taveras and Justin Foscue for 7th in the Rangers chain in homers.

Charles was taken by the Miami Marlins in the AAA portion of the 2021 Rule V Draft. He was hitting .302/.381/.503 for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp when he was called up to The Show. He started at third base, hitting 9th, in his MLB debut against the New York Mets on July 30, 2022. He struck out against Carlos Carrasco his first two times up then doubled, but was caught stealing. He had a good final two months on a Marlins team that struggled to hit, finishing at .263 in 48 games, with 4 homers and 11 RBIs, good for an OPS+ of 104. In a bit of a surprise, he was not added to Team Canada's roster for the 2023 World Baseball Classic, a function of his wanting to concentrate on earning a spot with the Marlins out of spring training in 2023.

Further Reading

• Alexandre Pratte: "Comment ne pas trouver le baseball romantique ?", La Presse, June 14, 2021. [1]

Related Sites

• Charles Leblanc on mlb.com
• BR Register page