The Vanderbilt Commodores have another former player getting ready to make their Major League debut. The Texas Rangers are calling up top prospect, Jack Leiter to the MLB. He is set to make his first start in the majors on Thursday against the Detroit Tigers
Leiter was the second overall pick in the 2021 Major League Draft after an amazing sophomore season at Vanderbilt. This was his only significant season in college as his freshman season was cut short due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
In his sophomore season, Leiter had a record of 11-4 with an earned run average of 2.13 in 110 innings pitched and struck out 179 batters. He also had a very impressive WHIP of 0.84
Despite having numbers of an ace, Leiter was behind Kumar Rocker in the rotation and they led the Commodores to the College World Series Championship. They lost this three game series to Mississippi State.
Leiter's dominant sophomore season made him the second player selected in the 2021 Major League Draft. The Rangers waited until 2022 to give him minor league innings and he quickly struggled.
Leiter pitched in AA in 2022 and 2023 and did not do great. In those two seasons, Leiter had a 5-16 record with an earned run average of 5.32 in 174.1 innings pitched and struck out 219 batters. He also made a start in AAA during the 2023 season, but struggled in that too.
Despite not being great in his first two professional seasons, Leiter came out to Spring Training and impressed. He took that hot start in the Spring to the regular season and did very good in his first three outings in AAA.
Through three appearances this season, Leiter has a 1-1 record with an earned run average of 3.77 in 14.1 innings pitched and has struck out 25 strikeouts. He also has a WHIP of 0.98.
This was enough to get the call to the big leagues and Leiter will pitch as a Ranger for the first time on Thursday.