Jack Leiter showcased why he was the Rangers' first-round pick, but how does he build from here?

The Texas Rangers used the second overall pick in the first round of the 2021 June Amateur draft to select Jack Leiter, who was coming off a magnificent college career at Vanderbilt.

Fair or not, much was expected of the flamethrowing right-hander early on as he was so dominant in college that many expected him to make a seamless transition to the professional level.

It has taken a little bit longer than Ranger fans might have wanted, but in the second half of the 2025 season, he showed why he was such a high pick. But there is still much room for improvement heading into his second full season as a member of the Rangers' starting rotation.

Leiter was excellent after the All Star break last season

Beginning with his start on June 22 last season, Leiter gave up more than 3 earned runs just one time, seeing his ERA drop from 4.55 to where he ended the season at 3.86.

The young hurler showed much better command on the mound and was consistently around the strike zone with his plus fastball, nasty slider, and improving slow change pitch.

Most of Leiter's improvement will come on the mental side of pitching

Because Leiter has all the physical tools necessary to be a dominant major league pitcher, most of the areas he needs to improve upon will come on the mental side.

In the second half of 2025, Leiter showed more patience on the hill and didn't get flustered every time he didn't execute a certain pitch to perfection or get a borderline call from the ump.

Maintaining his composure when things aren't working like he would like will be key to becoming an even better pitcher moving forward.

He can look no further than to the other Ranger veterans like Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, who have mastered the art of compartmentalizing their emotions to a point where they never get rattled by giving up a hit or a run here and there. Leiter can look to them and learn that each start is a marathon, and not a sprint.

If Leiter can emulate his cohorts in this regard, the sky is the limit on how good he can become because he has incredible stuff and is continuing to develop a quality strikeout pitch.