By Natalie Hanna · Sports Editor
David Leslie was a catcher for most of his baseball career until he started pitching during his sophomore year here at Grove City College.
Leslie pitched for three years at Grove City College, graduating in 2025, and one year at the University of Pittsburgh. But four years is all it took for the New York Yankees to take notice of Leslie’s talent. Since being drafted in the ninth round in July, Leslie has been playing in scrimmages and developing his skills at the Yankees’ training facility in Tampa as he awaits spring training.
Leslie spoke about his time on the Grove City baseball team as one of formation, saying, “It gave me the opportunity to fail and learn.”
His coaches stuck with him and saw his potential before he saw it in himself, and he came out of Grove City College a completely different, better and more prepared player.
While a student-athlete at the college, Leslie earned All-PAC First Team Honors in 2023 and 2025, leading the team in strikeouts (84) in the latter year, which was also the season when the Wolverines won the conference championship for the first time since 2008.
In the same season, he started 12 games during his senior year, went 9-2 with a 2.05 ERA and held batters to a .178 batting average. He had one complete game and was named PAC Pitcher of the Week twice. After graduating in May 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, he went on to play his last year of eligibility at the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned his master’s in sports science.
But what has landed Leslie in the Yankees’ farming system besides just training and skill? Mental toughness.
Practice gives him confidence in a game, but he has also fostered a healthy mindset, which enables him to focus on the big picture before entering a game: it’s just a game, and he’s “trying to have more fun than everyone else.”
By the time he steps onto the mound, he now feels prepared, but he is also simply ready to have fun competing. His mantra is “one pitch at a time,” and the second he lets go of the ball, the next pitch is the only thing that matters.
Leslie also credits a lot of his success to his coaches. The multitude of coaches who helped him along the way each contributed something unique to who Leslie is as a baseball player today. Josh Forbes, Butler High School’s head baseball coach, is the first person who introduced Leslie to the mental side of the game, pushing him when he didn’t play at a level he knew Leslie was capable of and getting him out of his head.
Grove City College’s baseball coach, Matt Royer, was the one who really taught Leslie how to pitch. By teaching him the fundamentals that Leslie still uses today, he formed him into a pitcher early in that specific path of his career.
At the University of Pittsburgh, head coach Mike Bell and pitching coach Clay Martin took Leslie to a new level, improving his pitches and his mental game. Coach Martin specifically pushed him to have fun, an important part of Leslie’s mindset to this day.
Most importantly, Leslie expressed that he would not be where he is today if not for his faith in God.
“I don’t think I would have the college career I had if it were not for my faith … I would have been so in my head and so upset at myself when I would fail that I wouldn’t have made it out of Grove City,” Leslie said. “The only reason I can have that perspective and view this as just a game, that I’m having fun (playing) — that’s why I play — is because of my identity in Christ.”
