José Leclerc #62

Jose Ramon Leclerc…brother Anyelo, a right-handed pitcher, was signed by Texas on 11/15/10 and selected by Boston in the minor league phase of the 2015 Rule 5 Draft.

In first full ML season, posted 7th-lowest opponents avg. (.146) among qualifying A.L. relievers…ranked among staff leaders in games (4th, 47) and games finished (3rd, 15)…finished 7th on staff with 60 SO, just 2nd TEX reliever to crack 60 K's in past 2 seasons (Matt Bush - 61 SO in 2016)…opposing RH batters hit just .108 (10-93), lowest in MLB among pitchers with 80+ AB against…posted at least one strikeout in each of his first 18 outings, the longest seasonopening streak in club history by a reliever…1st career save on 4/12 at LAA, when retired Trout (K) and Pujols (F8) on 4 pitches in 8th inning…1st ML win on 6/13 at HOU…over 1st 34 outings through 8/8, had a 2.88 ERA (11 ER/34.1 IP), then had 7.15 ERA (9 ER/11.1 IP) in final 13 appearances to finish with a 3.94 ERA…on 9/2 vs. LAA, walked all 3 BF to open the 10th inning, all of which would eventually score as Leclerc took loss in 7-4 defeat…made 4 appearances the rest of the way: 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 SO, 18 BF.

INJURY/REHAB // Was on the disabled list, 5/8-6/1, with a bruised right index finger, an issue he pitched through for much of the season's first 5 weeks…was placed on the disabled list a day after issuing walks to 3 of 5 batters faced in Seattle…completed a rehab assignment with Frisco, 5/28-6/1, tossing 2.0 scoreless innings in 2 outings.

Posted 1.80 ERA (3 ER/15.0 IP) across 12 relief appearances spanning 2 stints with Texas (7/5-15 and 9/4- end of season) in his first major league action…had 13 BB/15 SO with a 1.600 WHIP figure…in 1st 5 outings, allowed 4 R/3 ER in 7.1 IP with 11 BB/8 SO…in final 7 G beg. 9/8, posted 7.2 shutout innings with 2 BB/7 SO…had no holds, 5 games finished, no save chances, and allowed 4 of 6 inherited runners to score…did not pitch in a win, and club trailed in every contest when he entered…made ML debut 7/6 at BOS (2.2 IP, 0 R, 4 SO), just 2nd reliever in Texas history with 4+ K's over 2.0+ scoreless innings in a debut, joining Neftali Feliz (4 K in 2.0 IP on 8/3/09 at OAK).

Recorded the 8th-most strikeouts (98) in the Texas League, while leading the league in walks (73)…also tied for the 6th-most hit batsmen (6)…held right-handed batters to a .218/.330/.376 line, while left-handed hitters batted .280/.415/.394…was 1-0, 6.75 (6 ER/8.0 IP) as a reliever and 5-8, 5.68 (60 ER/95.0 IP) as a starter…completed 6.0 innings in 3 starts, allowing zero-or-one run in all 3 outings… started season in the bullpen and made 3 relief appearances (6 ER/6.0 IP) before joining rotation on 4/25…allowed 4 runs over 1.2 innings in first start on 4/25 vs. CC and went 4-3, 3.42 (29 ER/76.1 IP) with 68 strikeouts over next 16 starts…was 0-4, 15.19 (27 ER/16.0 IP) over final 5 starts.

Led all Texas farmhands and ranked 4th in the Carolina League with 14 saves…averaged career high in SO/9 (12.4)…whiffed 32% (79 of 243) of all batters faced…surrendered a season-high 7 runs on 8/17 at Salem…held RH batters to a .175 avg. (21-120) with 54 SO… opponents went 8-for-55 (.145) with RISP…was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA (0 ER/9.2 IP) and 19 strikeouts against one walk in 7 relief appearances with Cibao in the Dominican Winter League…held DWL batters to a .065 average (2-31).

Jumped to Hickory in first season stateside and led the Crawdads in relief appearances…averaged 11.7 SO/9… converted 5 of 8 save chances…held opposition to a .275 average (19-69) with RISP…limited RH batters to a .191 average (27-141), with lefties at .325 (26-80)…was 2-0 with a 1.05 ERA (3 ER/25.2 IP) over 19 outings following the break… allowed runs in just 2 of last 20 outings.

Returned to the DSL Rangers and logged the 2nd-most relief innings on the staff…permitted just 6.2 hits per 9.0 innings and allowed just one home run.

Pitched for the DSL Rangers in his 1st professional season and recorded a team-high 5 holds.