Texas Rangers Former Top Prospect Has Brought the Heat Early in Spring Training

One of the keys to the Texas Rangers getting back on track during the 2025 campaign will be the performance of their pitching staff.

Injuries decimated the starting rotation in 2024, playing a major role in the team failing to qualify for the postseason after winning the World Series in 2023. However, things are looking up as the group is healthy heading into spring.

Jacob deGrom is looking to regain his Cy Young form after making only nine starts in his first two seasons with the franchise. Tyler Mahle made only three starts in 2024 as well and will be counted on to fill a spot in the rotation.

They are joining Nathan Eovaldi and some combination of Kumar Rocker, Jon Gray and Cody Bradford to round things out.

Another player to keep an eye on is former top prospect Jack Leiter.

The No. 2 pick in the 2021 MLB Draft out of Vanderbilt was a top 100 prospect his first few years as a pro. But, his production slipped, resulting in him being dropped from the rankings despite retaining his rookie status for 2025.

It is understandable that he didn’t make the cut after a disastrous MLB debut last year.

Leiter made nine appearances, six starts, throwing 35.2 innings. He was lit up by opponents, who registered a .297/.374/.527 slash line against him with seven home runs allowed.

When batters made contact they were hitting the ball hard and doing damage, recording an average exit velocity of 90.4 mph with a hard-hit rate of 45%.

Unless there are some shocking decisions made with the Major League roster, Leiter will be ticketed for Triple-A to begin the 2025 season.

However, he is garnering some attention in camp as one of the standouts early in spring training for the Rangers.

What has caught the attention of evaluators?

Leiter is throwing the ball harder than he has at any point in his professional career.

As shared by Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, the former top prospect has seen an eye-opening increase in his fastball velocity.

Texas had urged him to adjust his ramp up process over the winter, opting for a slower build up. Instead of hitting his top velocity in January, he dialed in the process and the results have been magnificent.

In his exhibition season debut over the weekend, Leiter averaged 98.8 mph on his fastball. That is 2.4 mph faster than he averaged in 2024. The hardest pitch of his career, 99.9 mph, was clocked against the San Francisco Giants.

Last season, he had only three pitches in the Major Leagues reach 99 mph; he did that in one inning on Saturday.

As Verducci noted, there aren’t any noticeable changes to his mechanics that would lead to such an uptick in his velocity. His delivery has been cleaned up and looks smoother, which combined with the gradual ramp-up, looks to be paying early dividends.

Recommended Articles