Jack Leiter among MLB's best in this metric and it's paying big dividends early

One of the happiest surprises to kick off the season has been the transformation of Jack Leiter into perhaps the best young arm in Major League Baseball and it's catching the eye of everyone around the league.

The 25-year-old Floridian has raised his game a different level, beginning after the 2025 All-Star Game and bleeding into his first three starts of the year.

Set to take the mound on Saturday, in perhaps the biggest challenge of his early career, here's what has made Leiter successful on the mound and how far he's come since his minor league days.

Leiter sits among league best in vital pitching success metrics

When Leiter was drafted third overall out of Vanderbilt in 2021, the biggest challenge facing him was his command. More specifically, his lack of command that caused him to not execute his pitches and issue a whopping 101 free passes in his first two professional seasons.

While his strikeout numbers have always been there, the walks led to a higher WHIP year-after-year and harder bit balls. That defintley was an issue when he eventually made his big league debut in 2024 amd skyrocketed his ERA to 8.83 in his first 35.2 big league innings.

He worked with Rangers' pitching coach Jordan Tiegs prior to last season to address those issues and the numbers started to fall more in line. In his first full MLB season, he went 10-10 on 29 starts, 3.86 ERA, 151 strikeouts and 67 walks.

Now, two starts into his sophomore season, Leiter is looking like a wildly different pitcher. His new cutter has added an extra level to his impossible pitching mix and is generating a 45.3 percent whiff rate (99th percentile) and 34.3 percent chase rate (77th percentile). What is even more miraculous is his current 17-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his first 11 innings.

From a pitcher who two years ago looked frankly terrified to take a big league mound because of uncertainty how his stuff would play against better hitters to staring them down after closing out a nine strikeout performance, he is starting to live up to the hype Texas was promised five years ago.