Texas Rangers land a Vandy Boy in FanSided Mock Draft

We can only hope the actual 2021 MLB Draft goes as well as for the Texas Rangers as the mock draft did for FanSided.

Over the weekend, the MLB staff at FanSided conducted a first round mock draft ahead of Sunday night’s festivities, with each team site making a selection. As such, Nolan Writin’ made the pick on behalf of the Texas Rangers.

You might be pleased with who we selected at No. 2 overall!

With the 2nd overall pick in the 2021 FanSided MLB Draft, we took Vanderbilt RHP Jack Leiter for the Texas Rangers

That would be one half of the Vandy Boys, Jack Leiter, who pitched like an ace for Vanderbilt all season and into the College World Series this past June.

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The Rangers won’t have too many obstacles in the way of picking who they want with No. 2. The one that does exist? The Pittsburgh Pirates, who hold this year’s first overall pick. Lucky for us, Pittsburgh (and our friends at Rum Bunter) seems to favor California high schooler and shortstop Marcelo Mayer, which opened the door for a Jack Leiter pick at No. 2.

Perhaps a draft night surprise is in order on Sunday, but barring any major surprises, the Pirates are actually expected to pick Mayer. Therefore, any surprises that do emerge would likely come from the Texas Rangers (Lawlar? Watson?).

Despite the rumors that Leiter prefers to play for the Boston Red Sox – who pick fourth- it would be a total shock if he drops past the top three given that the 21-year-old college ace is the consensus best pitching prospect available in this year’s class, even having surpassed Vandy teammate Kumar Rocker.

Another angle on the Leiter drama is the money. Fortunately for the Texas Rangers, they’ll have the capacity to go over-slot to lure in Al Leiter’s son should it come to that on draft night.

Ultimately, the Rangers could go a number of ways with this pick, but Nolan Writin’ settled on Leiter. He’s just too good to pass up and the organization has a clear need for frontline pitching prospects, outside of Cole Winn.

Who would you take with this pick?