Al Leiter dealt with blisters throughout his MLB career that hindered his ability to pitch effectively on occasion. But the only thing that's blistering in his son Jack's pitching career is the heat that he's delivering at the age of 20.
No, I didn't make up that fact for the sake of the intro this article: Al Leiter really did deal with blisters. But he was able to overcome those annoying and sometimes debilitating injuries in an ultimately successful big league career, in which he was a two-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion. He had some success very early on, too, including in a legendary high school game where he struck out a whopping 32 batters in 13 innings of work. He apparently reached 86 miles per hour with his fastball in that game, though Leiter thinks he was in the 90s.
One thing's for sure: whether or not Al hit 90, his son Jack certainly did.
Jack, who pitched at Vanderbilt for a chunk of his freshman season before it was canceled, is currently ranked as the sixth best right-handed pitching prospect in the nation on Perfect Game. His profile info says that he reached 94 miles per hour at the Perfect Game National Showcase, and high school batters were devastated by his speed. Striking out 95 batters in 57 innings as a high school senior, he set the tone for what was to come in college, as he struck out 22 batters in 15.2 innings of work with a 2-0 record and a dazzling 1.72 ERA before coronavirus hit.
Jack was drafted by the Yankees in the 20th round of the 2019 Draft, though his selection would likely have been much higher had teams not known he was set on playing college ball.
How does Al feel about his son's success? The elder Leiter called himself a "train wreck" at that age, while lauding his son's ability to show "way more poise" and command the mound in a radio interview (via Nick Kosko of 247 Sports).
With pitches like the ones showcased in the brief snippet above, the sky's the limit for Jack Leiter.
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