DeLeon will split time with returning Newport Gulls backstop Jeff Melillo behind the plate this summer. DeLeon is coming off a junior campaign at Kansas in which he helped lead the Jayhawks to a pair of wins and to the semifinal round of the Big 12 Baseball Championship for the first time since 2006. DeLeon batted .267 (39-for-146) with 11 runs scored, seven runs, four homers and 22 RBI.

Last summer, DeLeon was an All-Star for the Palm Springs Power of the Southern California Collegiate Baseball Association. DeLeon batted .275 with 11 doubles and 17 RBI in 30 games, helping carry the Power to a league championship and a 41-4 overall record.

As a sophomore, DeLeon won Kansas’ Tom Hedrick Most Improved Award, playing in 38 games, making 26 starts at catcher and three as the Jayhawks designated hitter. DeLeon hit .320 (31-for-97) with 18 runs scored, five doubles, six homers and 23 RBI.

DeLeon played for the Terre Haute Rex of the Prospect League in the summer of 2010 after playing in 22 games, starting nine of them behind the plate for Kansas as a freshman.