Redhawks' Leimbek savoring last summer with teammates before college baseball career begins

Jul. 2—ROCHESTER — Mason Leimbek gets to take a vacation this week.

The recent Rochester Mayo High School graduate gets to leave the state with family for a few days, keeping his body off the baseball field. And maybe his mind, too.

Leimbek might not know what to do with a few days off. He's been on a baseball field or practice of some kind nearly every day since his high school hockey career came to a close in late February. Prior to that, he was at the hockey rink nearly every day for four months.

"It feels a lot different this summer, because all my buddies are still playing hockey (and having summer practices)," Leimbek said between Rochester Redhawks games at the Firecracker 92 Legion baseball Tournament on Saturday. "It's been nice, too, just playing baseball.

"It's a little sad, being our last summer together, since I've played with all these guys for a really long time. ... It's been great playing with them the whole time and it's great to get one last summer with them."

This spring, Leimbek helped the Mayo baseball team go 19-6 and reach the Section 1AAAA championship game for a second time in three seasons, falling in a well-played tight 5-3 game against Lakeville South.

There was minimal time to lick wounds, though. Leimbek traded in his Spartans uniform from this spring for two this summer — the sweet-swinging center fielder and occasional lefty out of the bullpen is double-dipping, playing for the Rochester Redhawks American Legion team as well as for the Rochester Royals, the defending Class B amateur baseball state champions.

If that's not enough ball for one summer, Leimbek spent two days in Chaska in late June, along with Mayo teammate Ian Regal and Rochester Century standout Ryan Ohm, representing Rochester in the Minnesota All-Star Baseball Series.

"It's been a lot of Legion; I've only played one (game) for the Royals so far, but I'll play with them a little more once Legion season is done," Leimbek said. "We had the All-Star Series, that was really fun, too, a lot of great players. But Legion is the best because it's just fun being able to play with buddies. We take it seriously, but we like to have fun, too."

Leimbek is savoring his final days with his Mayo/Redhawks teammates, and his first days with the Royals.

This fall, he'll head to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he'll play college baseball for the Eagles, a program coming off a 36-13 season and a trip to the NCAA Division III College World Series.

"Mason really understands the game," Redhawks manager Tom Senne said. "He's able to really pick up on the baseball IQ throughout a game. He can make adjustments at the plate and he's also a very, very good center fielder. He can track a ball well. Nothing really burns him. He makes good reads and gets a good jump on the ball.

"That will all really help him at La Crosse next year."

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that Leimbek all but lives at the ball diamond in the spring and summer. The game is in his blood.

Mason's dad, Shawn, starred for Mayo High School, then for Des Moines Area Community College and Iowa State, before returning to Rochester and starring for the Royals. Shawn also served as the Redhawks' manager last summer, and is on board as an assistant coach this summer.

"He was a big part of (my recruiting process)," Mason said. "It was also great being coached by him all the way up. He taught me how to keep my emotions calm and it was great to learn from him. He's the best mentor I could ask for."

After hitting .443 with three home runs and 13 RBIs for Mayo this spring, Leimbek has continued to tear the cover off the ball this summer. He entered the Firecracker Tournament batting a robust .550 for the Redhawks.

"You could see his steps, from learning how to play at the varsity level as a sophomore to now," Senne said. "At the end of his junior year, in sections, he was really hitting the ball. This year, you can see it, when he makes contact, when he hits the ball, it goes. The sound and everything, it's just different."

Leimbek and the Redhawks are held in high regard around the state this summer. They are ranked No. 14 in the state-wide Legion rankings and were ranked as highly as No. 2 at one point this summer. They're 11-7 overall after going 4-1 and placing third in the Firecracker 92 Tournament last weekend in Rochester.

A trip to the Minnesota Division I Legion state tournament is also on tap this summer — the Redhawks will host the state tournament July 27-30 and receive an automatic bid as the host team.

It's the first time that many, if not all, of the team's players will participate in a state tournament, after narrowly missing out a couple of times in high school.

"It's going to be exciting, so fun," Leimbek said. "We've been thinking about it the whole summer and we've been building for it the whole summer.

"We have a lot of young guys, but you could see — we had a rocky start, but since then, our young guys are starting to put it all together and the older guys are all stepping up as leaders."