Tuesday, September 19, 2023

DEDICATED ROOKIE: 1975 DENNIS LEONARD

Today on the blog, we have a 1975 "dedicated rookie" for Kansas City Royals ace Dennis Leonard, who made his Big League debut in 1974:


Leonard appeared in five games for K.C. that season, four of those starts, going 0-4 with a bloated 5.32 earned run average over 22 innings of work.
Lucky for the Royals however, this was going to change in a big way, as Leonard would become their anchor on the mound, posting three 20-win seasons as they ascended to become a powerhouse later in the decade.
The man was a stud between 1975 and 1981, finishing near the top of the A.L. for wins each year while taking the mound every fourth or fifth day without fail, logging a boatload of innings, even leading the league in the strike-shortened 1981 season with 201.2 over his 26 starts.
Sadly arm injuries kicked in during the 1982 season, something he’d never recover from, missing the 1984 season and retiring soon after in 1986.
Over 12 seasons in the Majors, Leonard would finish with 144 wins and a 3.70 ERA over 312 appearances, with 23 shutouts and 1323 strikeouts, tossing 2187 innings which included two seasons of 290+ (1977/1978).