Rangers fans will finally get an opportunity to see prized pitching prospect Jack Leiter. The club announced Tuesday that the former No. 2 overall pick will be called up from Triple-A Round Rock to make his Major League debut on Thursday afternoon against the Detroit Tigers.
Leiter will make a spot start to allow the rest of the rotation to get an extra day off in between starts with the club in the midst of playing 17 games in 17 days.
“I told him when he left [spring training], we’re going to need him,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said, via the Dallas Morning News. “I loved the way he was throwing. Fully expected him to be up at some point this year.”
Leiter, 23, is 1-1 with a 3.77 ERA in 14 1/3 innings pitched for the Round Rock Express this season.
When the Rangers selected Leiter with the second overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft out of Vanderbilt, it was expected that it wouldn't take long for the right-hander to quickly move up through the minor league system. But Leiter struggled with his fastball command in his first two minor league seasons and went from one of the top prospects in baseball to falling completely out of MLB Pipeline's top 100 prospect rankings.
Leiter arrived at camp this spring and showed improvement with his control, pitching to a 4.26 ERA with eight strikeouts and five walks in just over 12 innings of work, putting him into consideration for a spot on the Opening Day roster. However, Texas elected to send him back to Triple-A, where he had only made one start, which came at the end of the 2023 season.