Charles James Leesman (born March 10, 1987) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

. He also played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB) for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

. He made his major league debut on August 9, 2013. Before his professional career, Leesman attended

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 stud ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Xavier Musketeers The Xavier Musketeers are the 16 teams representing Xavier University in intercollegiate athletics, including men's and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. The Musk ...

Minors

Leesman was drafted by the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area ...

in the 40th round of the

2005 MLB Draft The 2005 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 7 and 8. It was conducted via conference call with representatives from each of the league's 30 teams. It is widely considered to be one of the best ...

, but did not sign, opting to attend

, where he played for the

Xavier Musketeers baseball The Xavier Musketeers baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball program of Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. The program's first season was in 1974, and it has been a member of the NCAA Division I Big East Con ...

team. Leesman was then drafted by the

in the 11th round of the

2008 MLB Draft The 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft continued Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, and was held on June 5 and 6, 2008. First round selections ;Key Supplemental first rou ...

, and signed. Leesman then started his professional baseball career with the White Sox rookie league

Bristol White Sox The Bristol Pirates were a Minor League Baseball team in Bristol, Virginia, United States. They were a Rookie-level team in the Appalachian League. The team played home games at DeVault Memorial Stadium. Opened in 1969, Devault Memorial Stadium ...

. In 2009, Leesman spent the entire season with the Class A

Kannapolis Intimidators Kannapolis () is a city in Cabarrus and Rowan counties, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte and is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The city of Kannapolis was incorporated in 1984. T ...

and finishing the season with a record of 13-5, 3.08 ERA and 117 strikeouts in 157+ innings. In 2010, Leesman started the season with

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

before getting promoted to Double-A

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

. He finished the 2010 season combined with a 14-6 record, 4.07 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 148+ innings. Before the 2011 season, the White Sox added Leesman to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft after the season. Leesman spent the 2012 season with the Triple-A

Charlotte Knights The Charlotte Knights are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. They are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play their home games at Truist Field, which opened in 20 ...

and finished with a 12-10 record, 2.47 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 135 innings. Leesman injured his ACL during

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ( ...

playoffs. Leesman was designated for assignment by the White Sox on April 14, 2013, and claimed off waivers by the Rangers. The Rangers outrighted Leesman to the minor leagues, but he declined the assignment, becoming a free agent. Leesman then signed back with the White Sox on April 23, 2013.

Career

Chicago White Sox

On July 9, 2013, Leesman's contract was purchased from Charlotte and placed on the White Sox roster as the

26th 26 (twenty-six) is the natural number following 25 and preceding 27. In mathematics *26 is the only integer that is one greater than a square (5 + 1) and one less than a cube (3 − 1). *26 is a telephone number, specifically, the number of ...

player due to the doubleheader exemption. On August 9, 2013, Leesman made his Major League debut in the second game of a

doubleheader Doubleheader or double header may refer to: *Doubleheader (baseball), two baseball games played between the same two teams on the same day *Doubleheader (television), a broadcast of two games back-to-back *Double heading, using two railway locomoti ...

against the

. He was designated for assignment on August 16, 2014 and released on August 20.

Pittsburgh Pirates

On January 9, 2015, he signed a minor league contract with the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. Founded as part o ...

Wichita Wingnuts

On March 31, 2016, Leesman signed with the

Wichita Wingnuts The Wichita Wingnuts were an independent baseball team based in Wichita, Kansas, in the United States. The Wingnuts were members of the South Division of the American Association of Professional Baseball. An expansion franchise in the 2008 sea ...

of the

American Association of Independent Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor lea ...

. He was released on October 20, 2017.

References

External links

Sox believe lefty Leesman has the right stuff
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leesman, Charlie 1987 births Living people Baseball players from Cincinnati Chicago White Sox players Xavier Musketeers baseball players Bristol White Sox players Kannapolis Intimidators players Winston-Salem Dash players Birmingham Barons players Charlotte Knights players Major League Baseball pitchers Indianapolis Indians players Indios de Mayagüez players Peoria Saguaros players Glendale Desert Dogs players Arizona League White Sox players Wichita Wingnuts players