Texas Rangers' last ditch effort to fix a former top prospect

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The Texas Rangers drafted Jack Leiter number two in 2021 because he was considered a slam dunk future ace that would move quickly through the minor leagues. In reality he has become more of a long-term project. Players that were drafted before him and after him have progressed at a much faster rate and some have even made their major league debuts, all while Leiter is still marooned at Frisco.

The latest with Leiter is that he was shut down after a July 7th start that did not see him make it out of the first inning. He was put on the developmental list after that and has not pitched in a game since that day. He was recently seen at Globe Life Field pitching off the mound in front of many of the Texas Rangers executives to Brad Miller and Austin Hedges. There is not much known about a return to game action this season. I do think we need to discuss where the Rangers went wrong with Jack Leiter. Many fans will say it was sending him to Frisco to start his professional career. I think the series of mistakes started right after he signed.

What Texas should have done with Jack Leiter after the 2021 MLB Draft?

If you are following prospect-related news this summer it is not hard to find stories about number one overall pick Paul Skenes pitching in games the same summer he was drafted. He is not pitching a lot. Just four innings so far. That does include a two inning appearance on Saturday night where he struck out five batters in an A-ball game. That comes after a college baseball season with LSU that ended with a College World Series championship in June.

Jack Leiter back in 2021 was drafted number two coming off a Men's College World Series appearance with Vanderbilt. The Commodores lost in the championship series to Mississippi State in three games. At the time it was completely understandable to shut down Leiter till Spring of 2022. In hindsight it does not appear that was the correct decision.

Leiter should have pitched that summer. He could have started for the rookie ball team in August and then got some time at A-ball Down East or High-A Hickory. He could have thrown 5-10 innings and then called it a summer. It would have given the Rangers a better idea of where to send Leiter to start the 2022 season. If he had pitched in games and maybe struggled there is a good shot he does not start 2022 at Frisco.

Next: The mistakes Texas made with Leiter after the 2021 MLB Draft

What Texas actually did with Leiter after the 2021 MLB Draft?

Leiter did everything a normal draft pick does. He signed his contract, had an introductory press conference at Globe Life Field, and threw out the first pitch at a home game. He was then sent to Arizona. That is where the normal draft pick comparisons stop.

He did not pitch in an actual game until the 2022 shortened spring training that occurred after the lockout. He did pitch with the major league team. He was then packed up and sent directly to Frisco. It was a very aggressive assignment for any draft pick, much less someone that was carrying the hopes of a franchise that has struggled to develop pitching.

The Texas Rangers incorrectly thought that with Leiter's pedigree and having pitched in the SEC that he would be able to handle an assignment directly to Double-A Frisco. I am sure the thought process by Chris Young and the player development staff was that he would spend 2022 developing at Frisco and maybe get sent to Round Rock by September. Then he would be an option to be in the rotation at some point in 2023.

That has not happened for Leiter to this point. SEC baseball fans like to say and believe that baseball in their conference in comparable to the kind of talent that is seen in Double-A. That is far from the truth as Leiter's career can attest to.

The stuff Leiter has is elite and major-league quality. What has held Leiter back from realizing that potential is the other stuff that comes with being a pitcher. He has struggled with command of his pitches including his fastball. The secondary stuff for Leiter does not consistently have that sharp break that is necessary to miss bats. He is still learning how to be more efficient and be able to pitch deeper into games.

Next : What Texas needs to do to get Leiter back on the track to be a future ace?

Where do the Rangers go from here with Leiter?

The mistakes have already been made with Leiter. He should have pitched in the summer of 2021. Some of these issues might have been discovered then and it maybe would have led to a less aggressive assignment to start the 2022 season. That is done and now it appears Texas is aiming for a hard reset. He was removed from the mound on July 7th and completely shut down. He is a CPU that is in the repair shop and being broken down before being reassembled.

Texas still does believe in Leiter and his potential. If they did not they would have been looking to trade him at the deadline. He is still here in the Texas Rangers organization. This is what Chris Young had to say to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News about this "mechanical adjustment" that Leiter has been working on since the middle of July.

When we did this, we said we didn’t care how long it took, whether it was three weeks or three months. We did not want to put him in a position where he took two steps forward and then went backwards again. We want to put him in a position to succeed.
Chris Young

The committment from the front office is clearly still there for Jack Leiter. Here are three things that Texas should do to turn that commitment into noticeable results for Jack Leiter.

3 Steps Texas needs to take to help fix Jack Leiter

First, reduce the amount of advice he is given from people outside the Texas Rangers organization. In Leiter's time since being drafted he has been hearing from Texas Rangers' minor league coaches and player development staff, his dad, a former major leaguer Al Leiter, and in the offseason Vanderbilt coaches and alumni. Texas is the one paying him and he needs to be hearing primarily from Texas Rangers staff because the only way this hard reset works is if he has a clear mind and can take in what Texas is telling him and be able to apply it on the mound.

Second, do not send Leiter directly back to Frisco. Really, I would just shut him down for the rest of the season. I would send him to Arizona to pitch in the Arizona Fall League. Next season, I would then have him start the season at Hickory. It would be good to see him build some confidence in Hickory and then be promoted to Frisco and then continue working his way up to potentially Round Rock by the end of the 2024 season.

Third, I would not extend him a non-roster invite to major league spring training. This may sound like a small thing, but he has been in camp the last two years with Texas before being sent down mid-way through camp. Leiter needs to report with the rest of the minor leaguers and spend the entire camp on the back fields away from the pressure that comes with pitching in a major league spring training game.

The Texas Rangers and Jack Leiter have one shot to get this reset done right. They have to make sure that when he is brought back that the mechanical issues he was having are fixed. They also have to make sure that mentally he is ready to go out there and compete. If Texas does get this right and Leiter is able to turn it around they could be inserting Leiter into the rotation in 2025 with a fully healthy Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, and Dane Dunning.

The Leiter computer when reassembled will hopefully have an updated operating system. A system that will give him a better chance at excelling in professional baseball. Just like with everything only time will tell whether this hard reset works and for how long. Hopefully Leiter can get back to being the apex predator he was at Vanderbilt back in 2021.

all 16 strikeouts from @VandyBoys Jack Leiter's no-hitter vs. South Carolina today in his first career SEC start: pic.twitter.com/weILs7OnXd
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) March 20, 2021