Rangers’ Jack Leiter Takes Big Strides Forward in Sophomore Year

After a disastrous rookie season, Leiter bounced back in big ways.

Sep 15, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jack Leiter (35) delivers a pitch against the Houston Astros during the first inning at Daikin Park. | Erik Williams-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers will look back at the 2025 season as a big disappointment. They missed the playoffs in a second straight year after the World Series and this is despite being within three games of the division as late as September.

There were quite a few positives to take away from the season, however. Jacob deGrom had his first healthy season in Texas, Wyatt Langford took another step towards stardom and Corey Seager had another 6.0 bWAR season despite his season ending earlyd due to injury.

Maybe the biggest development of the season was the improvements made by right-handed pitcher Jack Leiter. The former number two overall pick really struggled in his rookie season, but improved in a big way during his sophomore year. He's an important part of the future, and now the team's hand is off the panic button.

Leiter’s Rise From Rock Bottom

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Leiter was, no doubt, the top college pitching prospect in the 2021 draft and was considered to be one of the best since Stephen Strasburg. He was dominant in his final season at Vanderbilt, posting a 2.13 ERA and a 14.6 K/9 in 110 innings.

Basically, as soon as he stepped foot in pro ball, he struggled. In 2022, he made 22 starts at Double-A. In 92.2 innings, he struck out 109 batters and posted a 5.54 ERA. The strikeout numbers came down, but that was almost expected.

What wasn't expected was his loss of command. He wasn't the best at limiting walks in college, walking 3.7 per nine his sophomore year, but he couldn't find any semblance of command in his debut. He walked 56 batters, which came out to a 5.4 BB/9. His WHIP was 1.554, which is extremely high.

He came back in 2023 throwing 85 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, but only 3.1 were at the higher level. The strikeouts ticked back up to a nice 12.1 K/9, but once again, the walks were his kryptonite, staying in the same territory as 5.2.

He improved by nearly a walk per inning last season before being called up. But at the major league level, he had a 4.3 BB/9 in 35.2 innings. Despite his significant improvement there, it's going to be difficult to succeed with that many walks, which was reflected in his 8.83 ER and 1.710 WHIP.

That made 2025 a gigantic season for the 25-year-old. He needed to show some sort of improvement, or the alarm bells would start ringing.

Leiter did what he needed to do. He wasn't great, or even good by some metrics. But he was much better.

Firstly, he lowered his ERA all the way down to 3.86, nearly a five run difference. That ERA seems extremely real, if a bit lucky, as his FIP was 4.16. Even if it was over four, it's a dramatic difference from the 5.66 FIP in his rookie year.

The biggest encouragement was finding his command in a big way. He dropped his BB/9 to 3.9, the first time under 4.0 in his career. He also allowed fewer hits this season (7.5 per nine) than in 2024 (11.1). All in all, he was able to allow far fewer batters, improving his WHIP to 1.28.

The right-hander also improved his strikeout rate, going from a 7.8 K/9 to 8.6, which overall helps his base runner issues.

He made a huge change to his pitch mix, as well. Different offerings make him less predictable, which he was a little bit in his rookie year.

His four-seam fastball has always been maybe his best pitch, going back to his days in the SEC. He threw it 51 percent of the time in his first short stint, but lowered that in a big way to 38 percent. Using the fastball less allowed him to use it more as a weapon, with his put-away percentage on the fastball rising from 14.7 percent to 17.6 percent, according to Baseball Savant.

His slider usage dropped slightly, and swapped a cutter out for a sinker, allowing him to get more ground balls.

Leiter is in no way a superstar now, but this season puts him on an encouraging track for the future. He'll have more confidence heading into the offseason, especially finishing out his season with a seven-inning, two-run, and 10-strikeout performance.

Texas invested a lot in the young right-hander, and he is vital to the future of the rotation as deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi get older and Tyler Mahle heads to free agency. He took a step in the right direction in 2025.