Let’s highlight one of the Rangers’ top prospects, Jack Leiter.
Leiter was drafted in 2021 and was highly touted, and there was excitement surrounding his signing.
He was decent in 2022, going 3-10 with a 5.54 ERA. That was not what fans were expecting from him.
While at times Leiter was brilliant, overall, he was not. Jack walked 56 batters in 92.2 innings pitched.
He got flustered easily as well. He did have good strikeout numbers, however, striking out more batters than he had innings pitched (109 k’s to 92.2 IP)
This season he again started a little rough, but as of late, he seems to have turned the corner that the Rangers wanted him to.
Jack Leiter in April vs. May
Leiter had a 6.75 ERA in April, walking 15 in just 20 IPs. His record was 0-2, and his WHIP was 1.85.
May rolled around on the calendar, and we saw a completely different Jack Leiter. During the month of May, Jack was 2-1 with a 1.67 ERA in 27 IP. He had a WHIP of 0.96. He gave up one run or less in 4 of his 5 May starts, as opposed to only once in April.
Opponents were hitting .282 off Jack in April and only .148 in May.
June will be a big month for the Rangers’ prospect. If he can build off of his May, it will be great for his development and great for the Rangers.
Leiter has been watching guys like Cody Bradford and Grant Anderson get called up while he is stuck at AA, and that has to be tough mentally.
Jack knows he has the stuff; he just needs to walk less and go deeper into games. In 10 starts, Leiter has only gone 6 innings 3 times. His strikeout numbers are really good, as he is again striking out more than a batter per inning.
When will Jack Leiter make it to Arlington?
So Rangers fans clamoring to see Leiter in the Majors (which I don’t believe a lot of them are doing anymore) don’t need to give up hope.
If he can continue pitching as he did in May, he may very well end up in Arlington before the end of the 2023 season.
I would guess that it won’t be until 2024 that Leiter makes his MLB debut. But seeing the young man trending in the right direction is nice.
The RoughRiders are a stacked team, and if you have not made it out to Frisco to watch a game yet in 2023, I highly recommend it.
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