Charles Leblanc a big fish with the Marlins

INF Charles Leblanc (Laval, Que.) is the latest Canuck promoted to the majors.

August 4, 2022

Laval’s Charles Leblanc making fine first impression with Marlins

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

The date was July 28 and Charles Leblanc was sitting in the visitors’s dugout in Gwinnett, Ga., getting ready to suit for a game against the Gwinnett Braves with his triple-A team, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.

He never did make it into the lineup that night. He was a healthy scratch.

“It was 15 minutes prior to the game,” Leblanc said in an interview with the Canadian Baseball Network Aug. 4. “I knew something was going on. Then 30 minutes into the game, the hitting coach (former major leaguer Phil Plantier) came down to see me and told me the manager (Daren Brown) wanted to see me. I got a phone call saying I wasn’t playing and that’s all I knew.

“It was close to the trade deadline so I figured there had to be something going on. Something was boiling. Maybe I was going to be traded. They scratched me so they didn’t want me to get hurt or the flip side I thought I’m going to the big leagues. When we were at breakfast that day, we were talking about possible moves.’’

Following the game, Brown explained to Leblanc the parent Miami Marlins wanted him to join their taxi squad. Leblanc was half expecting he would be joining the actual big-league team so when he heard the news about the taxi squad, saying “it wasn’t something I expected but you know, it would be an opportunity to be around the team and showcase myself. I figured it’s a win-win situation.”

So Leblanc flew to Miami and checked in with manager Don Mattingly, who promptly told him the club had a change of heart. He was being placed on the 25-man roster.

“You’re a big leaguer,” Mattingly told Leblanc, who was thrilled but he said he didn’t get emotional until he started calling his family in the Ste.-Dorothée district of Laval, Que.

“I had the whole day to prepare myself emotionally. It was a long day. I called my mom,” Leblanc said. “My mom ... she didn’t pick up. I called my dad ... he didn’t pick up. I called my sister Jacynthe. My dad was actually sleeping when I called. My sister woke him up.”

At her father’s bedside, Jacynthe said, “Dad, come to the phone.’’

New Marlins INF Charles Leblanc with his father Paul Leblanc (Laval, Que.). Photos supplied by Paul Leblanc.

Papa Paul Leblanc, a nurse’s assistant working the night shift at the Montreal Heart Institute, came to the phone and Charles promptly said, “Dad, I’m a big leaguer.”

That prompted many tears and emotions going back and forth on the phone. By that time, Leblanc’s mother Evelyne Boudreau, retired after more than 30 years as an officer with the Laval police force, was on her way home.

“When I made that phone call, all the emotions came alive,” Charles Leblanc said.

It was a family case of tear ductitis and with good reason. They were after all ... happy tears.

“I was so emotional, I was crying all over the place. My wife was getting her second booster shoot and I called her and told her to come home,” Paul Leblanc said.

Charles didn’t play that night against the New York Mets but was in the lineup the next day on the Saturday, a game his family was able to see as he made his big-league debut, pencilled in at third base and No. 9 in the batting order.

Some players reach the majors in two years, some in three or four or five. It took Leblanc six years – at age 26 -- so it tells you the perseverance, the dogged determination and the resilience he exhibited to stay with it, to keep plugging away. That spirited passion worked wonders for him.

Miami Marlins INF Charles Leblanc, middle, is flanked by his mother Evelyne Boudreau and father Paul Leblanc, his sister Jacynthe on the right and Evelyne's mother-in-law Louise.

“Just looking at him warming up before the first game, there were memories when he was young, trying to hit the ball in the backyard,” Paul said, sounding emotional. “He was a year and a half old, maybe two years and he was hitting balls.”

When he reached the age of four, Papa Leblanc had to move batting practice to nearby Florent Park.

“It got to be too dangerous in the backyard. He was hitting the ball so hard. It was too dangerous for the windows in the backyard,” Papa Leblanc said, laughing.

The father remembers, like all fathers do -- even in Field of Dreams.

“I mean, that’s a dad thing. I don’t recall those memories. I was such a young age,’’ Charles said about BP he started to take in 1998.

Leblanc has been exceptional for the Marlins in his first five games, batting .353. He hit safely in his first four games and was hitting .429 and then he went 0-for-4 Aug. 3. He hit a home run in his second game and has two doubles.

Thursday was an off day before the Marlins were slated to take on the Cubs in Chicago in a Friday matinee.

“Now that I am here, it’s surreal that I am actually here,’’ Leblanc said in an interview from Chicago. “Every moment has been special. A lot of people have been wanting to reach out. It’s been a busy week.’’

What really floored Leblanc in the two games he played at home against the Mets cheering for the visitors and not the lowly Marlins. They were cheering the opposing team leading the NL East.

“I’m especially proud of Miami but they were all rooting for the Mets, it was a shock to me, they were rooting for a different team than ours,’’ he said, sighing.

Although the Baseball Reference website lists Leblanc as being drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2013 out of Vanier high school in Toronto, his father said that is incorrect. He said his son attended Ecole Secondaire Georges Vanier in Laval. This writer promptly emailed Baseball Reference to make a note of this discrepancy.

“I wasn’t ready mentally or physically,’’ Leblanc said in turning down an offer to sign with Milwaukee.

Leblanc hit .405 for the University of Pittsburgh Panthers in 2016 and shortly thereafter, he signed with the Texas Rangers, who drafted him in the fourth round.

The Marlins then took him away from Texas by selecting him in the December, 2021 Rule V draft.

“The Texas Rangers did a good job of preparing me for the majors,’’ he said. “I was surprised when Miami took me. I didn’t realize the Rule V draft was taking place that day. I found out the Marlins were following me. The Rangers thanked me for my service.’’

Leblanc was also thankful for the help he received from his mentor and agent Jethro Supré of Montreal. For over 10 years, Supré worked and worked and worked with Leblanc on a program to get him ready for serious baseball at Vanier, Team Canada, at university and in the pros, to keep him focused.

Leblanc talked about how Supré worked with him and ‘’helping me. It was a physical thing, a mental thing, a baseball skill. He was trying to mould me. He’s been challenging me a lot with different asks to improve my game. Even when I’ve been a little bit off and wasn’t quite ready to jump all in, he kept pushing me. It all happened what we scheduled to do.’’

Leblanc is the latest Canadian to make it to the majors and both Charles and Paul feel players from north of the border need to be taken more seriously by scouts and management officials with U.S.-based teams.

“Every player that comes out of Canada is special,’’ Paul said. “Everybody thinks Canada is only hockey, hockey, hockey but now we see more baseball and basketball players coming out of Canada.”

Charles Leblanc is a testament to that.

Danny Gallagher’s new Expos book Bases Loaded is available at Amazon and Indigo.