Where Rangers Can Go from Here After Jack Leiter’s Latest Rehab Start

With a second rehab start, the Texas Rangers now has some decisions to make when it comes to Jack Leiter.

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jack Leiter. Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Jack Leiter fell a bit short of one goal on Thursday. The rest of the evening was a bit harder to deal with.

The injured Texas Rangers right-hander made his second rehab start on Thursday with Double-A Frisco and the hope was that he would reach up to 65 pitches. He came close, throwing 59.

But, in the process, he was only able to pitch three innings, giving up three hits and five runs (four of which were earned) against the Wichita Wind Surge. He also struck out five and walked two, plus allowed a home run.

So where do he and the Rangers go from here?

Jack Leiter’s Next Step

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jack Leiter. Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Leiter scaffolded 11 pitches from his first rehab start to his second, as he threw 48 pitches last week with Triple-A Round Rock. But the line score numbers with better with the Express. He gave up one hit, one walk and three strikeouts in 2.2 innings.

Texas must reconcile the pitch could with what he did on the mound on Thursday. He wasn’t nearly as effective as he was in his first start. Was Leiter working through how to command his pitches after the layoff or was he dealing with command issues that could be a problem in the Majors?

That could determine what the Rangers do next. Major League teams usually want their starting pitchers to reach 75 pitches on a rehab assignment before considering activation. Leiter is 16 pitches away. With Nathan Eovaldi on the injured list, the Rangers may want to get Leiter back in the rotation next week once he’s rested. He may be built up enough to give them four, maybe five innings.

Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young also floated the idea of adding Leiter to the bullpen — but that was before his rehab began and right after Eovaldi went on the injured list. Texas has Jordan Montgomery to back-fill into the rotation but hasn’t been effective enough to usurp Cody Bradford, who took a spot in the rotation after Eovaldi’s injury.

Whatever the Rangers do with Leiter, they won’t do it until next week. He’ll need several days after the start to rest. If Texas wanted to activate him on normal rest, the earliest he could pitch would be Tuesday.

Leiter was 3-7 with a 5.29 ERA in 15 games before he had ankle surgery to remove an extraneous bond that had bothered him all season, to the point where he was altering lower body mechanics to compensate.