Rangers Star Pitcher Jack Leiter Could Be the Key in Upcoming Playoff Push

In a season riddled with injury, the former top pick could help push the Texas Rangers over the edge.

Aug 23, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jack Leiter (35) throws the ball during the third inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Globe Life Field. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers are fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot in 2025. They sit five games back in the American League West and just 1.5 games back of the third Wild Card spot. Though they're 7-3 in their last ten, they couldn't jump on the Seattle Mariners being swept, instead losing two games in a row themselves.

The Rangers have dealt with injuries and poor offensive performance all season from a lineup that was considered the strong suit of the team going into the year.

Nathan Eovaldi pitched like a Cy Young candidate before going down for the season and Jacob deGrom began to look like himself again, which helped keep the team afloat.

Now down Eovaldi, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Evan Carter and Tyler Mahle, Jack Leiter may be the key to Texas making the playoffs.

Jack Leiter Is Looking Like the Ace He Was Projected To Be

Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

Jack Leiter was drafted second overall by the Rangers in 2021 and looked like the next dominant college ace to enter the Big Leagues. With a 2.08 ERA and 14.4 K/9 in his career at Vanderbilt University, Leiter was considered to be someone who would move quickly through the minors.

Despite poor minor league numbers, that is what he did. His first full season came in 2022, where he posted a 5.54 ERA in 23 games at Double-A. His 10.6 K/9 was promising, but he walked over five batters per nine. The story was the same the next season, this time he reached Triple-A.

He made his much anticipated MLB debut in 2024 and despite improved numbers at Triple-A, it was more of the same when he reached the big leagues.

"This is one of the things that we have to fight in terms of pitching development. It’s not linear. When you have bumps in the road in the development processes, it’s actually a positive because you learn how deal with adversity," Rangers' President of Baseball Operations, Chris Young, told USA Today's Bob Nightengale.

The bumps in the road hit Leiter fast and hard. It was just beffore his 24th birthday that he made his debut last year, where he pitched in nine games. Over nine appearances, six of which being starts, Leiter allowed 35 earned runs in 35.2 innings.

He struggled with keeping runners off base. A 1.710 WHIP and 4.3 BB/9 weighed Leiter down to what was a -1.6 bWAR in such a short stint. He didn't succeed right away. As a top pick, that causes people to start talking.

Jack Leiter, 99mph ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/Hn8KeHqhXj

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 3, 2025

"That can be tough, but at the same time, those are outside perceptions. I’m not on social media or anything like that. I just kind of just keep to my inner circle. I’ve got my family, my friends, my teammates, and that’s more than enough for me," the right-hander explained.

That noise can get loud quickly. Fans, critics and analysts alike expect instant success. Instead of listening to it, Leiter has become the most important pitcher for Texas down the stretch.

In the first half, Leiter improved, but the numbers still weren't pretty. In 16 starts, he had a 4.37 ERA in 80.1 innings, striking out just 69 batters. Although he wasn't struggling nearly as much as he had in 2024, he wasn't really producing at an above league average level.

Since then, the former Commodore has turned it on. Leiter has started nine games in the second half. In 47.1 innings, his ERA has been 2.66 and he's struck out 57 batters, a 10.8 K/9. He has also lowered his WHIP from 1.357 to 1.183.

His improved performance goes back even further, striking out 75 in his last 62.1 innings.

In a loss in Wednesday's start, Leiter allowed just two runs and struckout eight in six innings, giving the Rangers plenty to win.

Jack Leiter, Nasty 94mph Changeup. 👌

8th K thru 5 pic.twitter.com/vr41EqhaEx

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 3, 2025

Without Eovaldi, Mahle and even Jon Gray, Leiter becomes all the more important to the success of this team. Although deGrom has had a stellar year, his 150.1 innings are by far the most he's thrown since 2019 and he is 37. Age and injury combined could leave some to worry.

That's why Leiter's recent turnaround and future stability on the mound is so critical. If he can continue to limit base runners at the clip he has over the past couple of months, he will be starting important games both on the way to and in the playoffs, should they make it.

It looked ugly early on, but as Young said, development isn't linear. He was being considered a bust and hadn't even thrown 200 major league innings. Now, Leiter is proving the outsiders wrong.