I pretty much knew I wanted to go to Rochester as soon as I met the coaches and the players.”

BHS graduate Josh Leadem

More often than not, freshmen, regardless of their sport, spend more time on the sidelines. That was not the case with Barrington High School alumnus Josh Leadem.

From Day One at the University of Rochester, Leadem was the starting center fielder.

“When we started our fall baseball season we had plugged him in right away and put him in the outfield,” Rochester coach Joe Reina said. “His work ethic was extraordinary. He works really hard in the field and the weight room. Generally that translates into having success early in your college career.

“During the fall we played intra-squad ball and Josh was tremendous. After that I felt very comfortable putting him in a starting role and being the general for us.”

How much success did Leadem have as a freshman?

• He earned Second Team All-Liberty League honors (i.e. Reina has been the Yellow Jackets coach for 19 years and his teams have qualified for the league playoffs 13 times) as University of Rochester annexed the league championship.

• He was University of Rochester’s third-leading hitter with a .368 average (16th best in the league).

• His .967 OPS was the third-highest on the team.          

• He was fourth on the team with 43 hits and fourth with a .538 slugging percentage.

• He was successful on 14-of-18 stolen base attempts.

• His fielding percentage was 1.000 because he handled 66 chances without committing an error.

“I always tried my hardest to compete for a starting role,” Leadem said. “I didn’t know I was going to start until I met with my coach during the winter.

“I always put in my max effort which allowed me to compete for that role on the team.”

Still, making the transition from a Division II high school to college baseball isn’t the easiest thing for a freshman to accomplish.

“It definitely was an adjustment,” admitted Leadem. “The pitching definitely was at a much higher level and I was able to make the adjustment.

“It was challenging but I was able to make the adjustment.”

Leadem arguably had zero adjustments to make at Barrington.

He was a three-year starter in baseball and soccer; he earned Second Team All-State honors in baseball; he was a three-time All-Division II selection for baseball; and hit .333 as a junior.

Lost in the list of his accomplishments at the plate was the fact Leadem also pitched in high school. That wasn’t going to happen at the University of Rochester.

“To go from the high school to the college game is a steep jump,” Reina said. “What I try to do with younger players is allow them the ability to fail. Let them learn from those failures so that by the end of the season they’re playing their best baseball.

“He started off very hot. He made some mistakes and we sat him down. By the end of the year he was one of our best hitters. I didn’t want to overload him with pitching.”

Even though Leadem didn’t have a choice, he was quick to admit he missed spending time on the mound.

“I definitely missed pitching but I agree with coach on the overload,” Leadem said. “My arm would get sore. There was less torque on my arm by concentrating on the outfield.”

The University of Rochester noticed Leadem early in high school.

“One of my assistant coaches (Justin Johnston) saw him at an academic school camp,” Reina said. “He played the game hard and was very aggressive. He jumps off the page. We started the process of making phone calls and brought him on campus. We looked at his transcript and it seemed to match up with what the school wanted.

“At the end of August, he decided to go through the early committal process and that was it.”

Early on, Leadem knew he wanted to enroll at Rochester.

“I pretty much knew I wanted to go to Rochester as soon as I met the coaches and the players,” he said. “That allowed me to make my decision early on.

“I was recruited by coach Reina from my sophomore year which allowed me to become one of their early recruits.”

Even though Leadem’s fielding wound up being impeccable, he went through a learning process.

“He plays aggressively,” Reina said. “He made some critical mistakes in the fall. We talked with him and decided this is when you can be more aggressive.

“He learned very quickly the does and don’ts of playing a high level center field.”

In 117 at-bats, Leadem only walked six times while striking out 14 times which isn’t the type of ratio coaches desire.

“When coach Johnson identified him at the Brown camp he saw that Josh plays aggressively,” Reina said. “I find it easier for me to pull an aggressive player back and then turn him loose.

“The strikeouts got better (i.e. diminished) later in the year and the walks will come. Everybody in our conference knows about him so he’ll have to be more selective so they’ll have to pitch to him.”

Leadem, who always was a stolen base threat in high school, carried that over to college albeit with a few unwise decisions.

“Early on we gave him the green light,” Reina said. “But he made some poor choices. We took it off in the middle of the season and put it on when we wanted him to steal. He learned from his mistakes and we gave him the green light toward the end of the season.

“This goes back to how you coach aggressive players. Let them go and then you can reign them in in certain areas.”

Regardless of his success as a freshman, Leadem knows maintaining the status quo could turn his career in the opposite direction.

“Being on a team so talented like ours, I see all the players around me push me to strive to be better,” he said. “I always think being bigger and stronger gives you an advantage on the field.”