It’s not that Mike Leake has gone unnoticed in three years at Arizona State.
He’s either won or still remains a candidate for every significant player/pitcher award in college baseball.
His final collegiate start at Packard Stadium is Saturday night against Clemson to open the NCAA Tempe Super Regional. That game is sold out.
It’s that Saturday feels like a foregone conclusion:Â The best-of-three series to get back to the College World Series will only require one additional ASU win either Sunday or (if necessary) Monday.
Since Leake is 15-1 this season, who could argue? If he wins, it’ll be No. 40 for his career, tied with Eddie Bane for the most of any pitcher in school history through three seasons. He could stand alone among three-year pitchers if he gets to the CWS.
There’s an element of flukiness involved in a pitcher’s victories, if only because it’s significantly dependent upon offense and defense, but Leake has a 1.23 earned run average.
Again, that’s 1.23 runs allowed per nine innings, against aluminum bats, warm weather and sandbox ballparks.
He doesn’t throw 100 miles per hour, more like 89-92 mph. Yet opponents are hitting .169 against him and he has 143 strikeouts to 20 walks for the season, a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 7-to-1.
There are four pitches in his arsenal he throws at any time, and eight different locations he consistently hits. That makes for a futile guessing game.
Leake’s projected to be a top-20 pick in Tuesday’s MLB draft. It’s a longshot, but possible he’s around at No. 16 when the Diamondbacks pick.
For now, forget about that stuff, and enjoy his final starts as a Sun Devil. There aren’t - and shouldn’t be - projections for when a pitcher this dominant comes around Tempe again.
