Keeping It Simple Could Help Rangers Star Reach His Ceiling

This could be the secret for the Texas Rangers young star.

Jun 17, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jack Leiter (35) delivers a pitch to the Kansas City Royals during the first inning at Globe Life Field | Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images

Coming into the season, there were questions if Jack Leiter was going to make the Opening Day roster for the Texas Rangers.

On paper, the rotation looked full.

Nathan Eovaldi was re-signed, Jacob deGrom was healthy and the trio of Tyler Mahle, Jon Gray and Cody Bradford seemed like they would be the backend arms.

However, injuries happened once again when Gray and Bradford went down, which gave Leiter and Kumar Rocker an opening to fill those spots.

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Leiter looked phenomenal in his first two starts, allowing just one earned run across 10 innings where he struck out 10 batters and walked just one.

But the injury bug hit him too, with a blister on his middle finger resulting in an injured list stint.

Since he's returned on April 27, he has flashed some of his elite tools but has also struggled.

Across his six starts during the month of May, he posted a 4.32 ERA with just 23 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings pitched while also walking 18. There were times when it looked like he was turning the corner, but during the midpoint of June, he ran into trouble again.

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Leiter has all the makings of being a dominant starting pitcher at this level, but he has to put everything together, something he might be figuring out coming off his outing on Sunday when he allowed just one run in six innings and had his Major League career-high seven strikeouts.

What could allow him to reach his ceiling?

According to him, it's keeping it simple.

"I think I tend to think a lot as it is, so keeping it more on the simple end is better," he said, per Kennedi Landry of MLB.com.

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Manager Bruce Bochy called Leiter a "thinker" when he's on the mound, which can be a positive. But it can also cause him to get too wrapped up in things beyond just getting outs.

It's unlikely Leiter will ever just turn his brain off when he's on the mound, but instead of overthinking certain things, relying on his stuff to get batters out is going to take his game to the next level and allow him to reach the ceiling that was given to him as the Rangers' top-ranked prospect.

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