This Young Pitcher Needs to Fully Break Out for Rangers in 2026

The Texas Rangers need this pitcher to up his game in the 2026 season.

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The Texas Rangers failed to bounce back in 2025 from what many assumed to be a terrible case of a World Series hangover in 2024. They missed the playoffs once again due to confounding season-long slumps for many of their top hitters.

General manager Chris Young is hard at work this off-season at changing the makeup of the club. He's added a contact hitter in Brandon Nimmo to the outfield as well as signing free agent pitchers Alexis Diaz and Tyler Alexander to add depth to the staff.

But if the Rangers are going to return to the postseason in 2026, they're going to need improved performances from players on the roster, which would need to include a legitimate breakout from a key member of their starting rotation.

Jack Leiter Must Realize His Full Potential for Rangers in 2026

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MLB.com's staff of beat writers teamed up to pick one strong breakout candidate for the upcoming 2026 season for each of their respective teams, and Rangers beat writer Kennedi Landry landed on Leiter, who established himself well in 2025 but still has more to offer this time around.

"The Rangers’ 2021 first-rounder had a quality rookie season, posting a 3.86 ERA in 151 2/3 innings as part of one of the best rotations in club history," Landry wrote. "Though pitching coach Mike Maddux departed for the Angels, Jordan Tiegs was elevated from assistant pitching coach to the main guy, putting Leiter in a perfect position to succeed with the coach that’s been around him for most of his professional career. Leiter has always had the talent, and if he continues to refine his command and control to limit the walks, he’ll get even closer to reaching his full potential in year two."

After a year of abysmal hitting and dominant pitching, it's easy to see a world in which both parts of the team regress hard to the mean in 2026.

Texas has too much offensive talent to be that bad in the run-producing department again, and a lot went right for them with pitcher health and performance that is not a given to repeat next season.

Leiter has the best chance to not only maintain his level from 2025 but to build upon it. He looked like a strong No. 3 starter all year with flashes of dominance, but if he can bring his ERA down to the 3.55-3.70 range and perform like a quality No. 2 or elite No. 3, this rotation could withstand some regression elsewhere.

He slightly overperformed his peripherals (3.86 ERA vs. 4.15 FIP), but with his talent, makeup and pedigree, it's easy to see his true talent level growing from where he was as a rookie.

A year of experience working a huge workload should help as well. Leiter allowed multiple earned runs in each of his last six starts of the year, but before that, he had 10 where he surrendered either one or none at all.

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