This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CHICAGO -- Jack Leiter, closer?
Well no, that’s going a bit too far. But Jack Leiter, reliever? That could be in the near future.
Leiter, who underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose body in his right ankle area on June 23, made his third relief rehab appearance on Wednesday night with Triple-A Round Rock, but it was his first coming out of the bullpen.
Leiter was initially building back up as a starter throughout the rehab process, but with the Rangers making a postseason push, the staff and front office thought it necessary to see if he could be successful out of the bullpen for the remainder of the year.
“We just want to see it,” said manager Skip Schumaker. “We want to see what it looks like out of the bullpen. If he comes out throwing 92 [mph], it's different than if he comes out throwing 98 to 100, and he feels good and he can recover. There's a number of factors that we want to see coming out of the bullpen.”
That said, Leiter struggled in his first relief appearance, allowing three runs on three hits and no walks in an inning of work. He threw 25 pitches, 17 of them for strikes. His four-seamer sat right around his yearly average at 96.6 mph. He threw just one sinker at 97.3 mph.
In his previous two rehab starts, his stuff and velocity significantly dipped as he got deeper into the game.
Leiter has made three career relief appearances, all in his rookie season in 2024. But he’s also aware of where the Rangers are at in the season and where he’s at in his buildup. He knows it might not be possible to be fully stretched out before the end of the regular season, though nothing is set in stone just yet.
“We'll see, but I just don't know the likelihood of being able to build up to seven innings and 100 pitches in the next four weeks,” Leiter said last homestand. “I just don't know. Obviously, as a competitor in a playoff race, you don't want to watch. You want to be out there helping the team. Just off of that alone, knowing that seven innings and 100 pitches is kind of far from where I'm at right now. … We'll see, but again, I don't know the plan.”
Make no mistake, Leiter is still viewed as a starter long term. But based on where the Rangers are at this point in the season, combined with his progress in his rehab, this is likely what makes the most sense to help the Rangers at this point in the season.
On top of the conversation surrounding his role, Leiter also acknowledged that he’s still navigating his mechanics coming off the surgery.
If he can give max effort in shorter stints, and do it successfully, the Rangers bullpen will no doubt get a huge upgrade.
“This is the first time I've ever had any kind of surgery, and obviously, you want to be optimistic and you want to think it's going to be smooth,” Leiter said. “It hasn't quite been, which is obviously frustrating. You want to be out there helping the team, and now it's just about them making a decision for where that works, where I can help out, and what that looks like.”