MLB’s lone Sabra stands strong with Israel from near and far as Reds’ assistant pitching coach.

In most ways, Cincinnati Reds assistant pitching coach Alon Leichman looks like all other players and coaches on the National League Central team. During games, all are clad in white pants and shirts with the word “Reds” inscribed inside of a large letter “C,” and all wear red baseball caps with the same letter “C.” And all are focused on the game.

As Leichman sits on the bench in the dugout taking copious notes on his pitchers’ form and delivery, it is not obvious that the 34-year-old is the only native-born Israeli in the major leagues (though there are other Israeli citizens throughout MLB who are not native born, including Baltimore Orioles pitcher and fellow Team Israel player Dean Kremer).

Leichman’s mind is on the game, and it is also on the situation back home in Israel. The generally quiet and humble Leichman has not been afraid to stand up for his country during these difficult times. Pictures abound of Leichman wearing a “Bring Them Home” T-shirt pitching batting practice, while sporting a black glove with an Israeli flag and the words “Bring Them Home” stitched in white capital letters and the word “NOW!” in even bigger red letters.

Leichman grew up playing baseball, a somewhat surprising fact for a Sabra. He was reared in Kibbutz Gezer, near Latrun on the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. While his New York-born father and Michigan-born mother, who met in Israel after making aliyah in their 20s, were not particularly big baseball fans, the kibbutz had an affinity to American baseball.

“The kibbutz was founded by Americans and wanted to bring American culture to Israel, so all kids on the kibbutz play baseball. I happened to really like it,” exclaimed Leichman, who started playing shortstop and pitcher on his first team at age six.

Peter Kurz, former President of the Board of Directors of the Israel Association of Baseball and current General Manager of Team Israel, has known Leichman for over 20 years.

“I took Alon on his first Israel National Team trip – and my first as well – to Holland as a 10-year-old kid in 1999 – the youngest on a team of 12 year olds.

Leichman graduated from the Brenner Regional School in 2007 and went on to serve in the Israel Defense Forces as an “outstanding athlete.”

He went on to attend junior college at Cypress College in Cypress, California, and pitched on their baseball team from 2010-2013.

“My parents supported my going to college in America to play baseball – they knew it’s what I always wanted to do.”

While at Cypress, Leichman required Tommy John surgery for a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. He then attended University of California-San Diego, where he pitched and graduated with a history degree. Leichman always knew he would continue either to play baseball, coach or serve as a scout.

The likable Israeli maintained what he describes as a “good connection” to his junior college coach, Scott Pickler, who always told him, “You will be a good coach someday.”

Leichman then had an opportunity to coach in the Cape Cod Baseball League, where he helped the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox win the 2016 Championship.

“I had been helping out as pitching coach and the pitcher did pretty well. It gave me the stage to work. People know each other in baseball and it kept leading to other opportunities.”

In 2017, Leichman began a six-year career in a variety of roles with the Seattle Mariners organization. In 2022, he served as pitching coach of the AAA Tacoma Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League.