Ericson Leónora

Ericson Neptalin?Neptali? Leonora

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 175 lb.

• Born August 25, 1992 in Punto Fijo, Falcon Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Ericson Leonora has played in the Dominican Republic, USA, Venezuela and Italy.

Leonora turned pro in 2009, hitting .286/.330/.448 for the DSL Yankees 1. Despite playing in a short season league, he still tied for 4th in the Yankees chain with nine triples (even with Austin Jackson and Ali Castillo). He tied Castillo and Daurys Mercedes for 5th in the Dominican Summer League in that department. He batted .272/.359/.346 for the same team in 2010, stealing 14 bases in 19 tries. In a third year with them, he hit .252/.321/.440 with 15 doubles and 42 RBI in 58 games. Coming stateside in '12, he hit .227/.306/.384 for the GCL Yankees but did smack 7 home runs. That tied Dilson Herrera for second in the Gulf Coast League, one behind Yeicok Calderón.

In 2013, he played for the GCL Yankees 1 (.235/.316/.294 in 6 G) and Charleston RiverDogs (.302/.340/.496 in 38 G). He made his Venezuelan Winter League debut, going 3-for-12 with a walk, double, homer and five RBI in three games for the Cardenales de Lara. The outfielder split the summer of 2014 between the Tampa Yankees, GCL Yankees 1 (1 for 2) and GCL Yankees 2 (.349/.411/.667 in 17 G). He was 3 for 11 with a double and a triple for Lara in 2014-2015. He spent all of 2015 with Tampa, where he hit .222/.252/.385 with 13 homers but had 123 K to 13 walks. He tied Clint Coulter and Taylor Sparks for third in the Florida State League in dingers (one off the pace), also tying Allen Valerio for 4th in the Yankees farm chain (7 behind leader Aaron Judge).

The Punto Fijo native hit .174/.208/.304 for Lara in 2015-2016. A free agent, he signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks but hit only .213/.259/.413 for the Visalia Rawhide to end his time in the affiliated minors, his BB/K ratio again being an issue. He hit .270/.325/.324 as a bench player for the 2016-2017 Cardenales, then was traded to the Tigres de Aragua for Gumercindo González. He was 1 for 11 with a run for the Tigres in 2017-2018.

Signing with Italy's UnipolSai Bologna club, he hit .333/.333/.533 with four RBI in four games in the 2019 European Champions Cup. He tied Ariel Soriano and Delano Selassa for the event lead with three doubles. He batted .375/.439/.636 with 26 runs and 23 RBI in 24 games in the 2019 Serie A1. He was among the leaders in average (tied Federico Giordani for 4th), slugging (4th, between Jose Flores and Giuseppe Mazzanti), OBP (tied Alessandro Vaglio for 9th), runs (1st, one ahead of Leo Rodríguez), hits (tied for 4th), RBI (tied for 4th), doubles (6, tied Giovanni Garbella for 9th), homers (tied for 4th, 5) and total bases (56, 5th). Bologna won the 2019 Italian Series over T&A San Marino; he saw little action, drawing a walk his only time up.

In the winter, he hit .288/.346/.482, now with the Leones del Caracas, with 27 RBI in 42 games. He tied Garabez Rosa for 9th in the VWL in RBI and tied Frank Diaz for 4th with six homers, while his slugging was 9th (between Olmo Rosario and Osman Marval). He was 5 for 19 with a double in the playoffs. In 2020-2021, he hit .258/.340/.355 for Caracas.

Returning to Europe, he starred in the 2021 European Champions Cup - 9 for 15, 2 2B, HR, 6 R, 5 RBI in 4 G, including a four-hit effort in the Bronze Medal Game win over Neptunus. He was among the leaders in average (1st, .029 ahead of Gianison Boekhoudt), runs (tied for 8th), hits (tied for third with Stijn van der Meer, Drew Janssen and Vincent Ahrens), doubles (tied for 4th), total bases (16, tied Boekhoudt and Terrell Joyce for 5th), slugging (5th), OBP (2nd, .017 behind Boekhoudt) and OPS (3rd, after Sicnarf Loopstok and Boekhoudt). In the 2021 Serie A1, he batted .400/.468/.762. He tied Gabriel Lino and Alessandro Deotto for the home run lead (9), was 5th with 35 RBI and led in slugging (.006 ahead of Lino). He was only 2 for 16 with two walks, a run and two RBI in the 2021 Italian Series as his team fell to ASD San Marino.

He was 5 for 23 with a double, two runs and two RBI for the 2021-2022 Águilas del Zulia. With Big Mat in the 2022 Serie A1, he hit .402/.490/.552. In the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games, he was the starting left fielder for the Curaçao national team. He hit .333/.318/.333 and had the game-winning hit against Puerto Rico when he singled off Freddie Cabrera to score Jamal Zalm. He tied for 10th in the Games with 7 hits. A teammate in that event was another Leonora, Dudley Leonora. They were teammates again in the 2023 Caribbean Baseball Cup; Ericson was 1-for-11 but with two walks, a homer, three runs and three RBI. With San Marino in the 2023 Serie A1, he hit .343/.414/.616. He made the top ten in homers. San Marino fell to his old Bologna club in the 2023 Italian Series.