Texas Rangers Move Rising Pitching Star to Injured List, Recall Veteran

The Texas Rangers made a move before Friday’s game to give their young rising star hurler the chance to heal from a minor injury.

Apr 2, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jack Leiter (35) pitches in the second inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers moved their young superstar pitcher to the 15-day injured list on Friday to give him time to heal his blister.

Officially, he has a right middle finger blister in a move that is retroactive to Wednesday.

Jack Leiter left Wednesday’s game against Cincinnati after the fifth inning after he developed a blister on his throwing hand. It ended his second straight terrific outing, but the Rangers (5-2) hung on to the victory, 1-0.

The Rangers made the move after manager Bruce Bochy’s pre-game updates with the media. He indicated that if Texas made a move on Leiter, it would be to allow him to nip the issue in the bud.

Texas recalled veteran left-hander Patrick Corbin from Triple-A Round Rock in a corresponding move.

The Rangers optioned the veteran at the start of the regular season and, ordinarily, Texas would have to wait 15 days to recall him from the minor leagues.  

But, because the Rangers are moving Leiter to the IL, that allows Texas to call up Corbin earlier than that. Corbin was in the Rangers’ clubhouse on Friday after returning from an outing at the team’s complex in Surprise, Ariz.

“Everything went well there,” Bochy said.

Bochy said that Corbin threw 85 pitches during that outing and that he would be comfortable moving the World Series champion into Leiter’s spot if needed.

Leiter’s spot in the rotation comes up on Tuesday at Wrigley Field when the Rangers face the Chicago Cubs in the second game of a three-game series. It’s possible Texas could choose to use Corbin on Monday, giving projected starter Nathan Eovaldi an extra day of rest.

Probables for the Cubs series are not out yet.

It’s a frustrating moment for Leiter, who after two starts impressed all of baseball with a near-100 mph fastball and a new kick-change that was frustrating hitters. He was 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in 10 innings with 10 strikeouts.

His Cincinnati outing came after Nathan Eovaldi’s complete game shutout, as the Rangers pitched back-to-back 1-0 victories for the first time in franchise history.

Leiter was the Rangers’ first-round (No. 2 overall) pick out of Vanderbilt in the 2021 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut last year.

The Rangers signed Corbin to a $1.1 million deal last week after losing both Cody Bradford and Jon Gray to injuries to start the season, thus depleting the rotation.

Corbin is a two-time All-Star and a 2019 World Series champion, and he has started at least 30 games in each of the last seven full seasons (excluding 2020). But his performance of late has been awful.

After going 14-7 in 2019, the first year of a six-year, $140 million deal, he’s gone 33-70 with a 5.62 ERA.

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