Rangers need to start considering these two pathways to solve their growing Jack Leiter dilemma

Location. Location. Location. It applies to more than just real estate. When you can't locate your bread-and-butter pitch in the major leagues, you are going to have a difficult time getting deep into games. That was yet again the problem for talented but inconsistent Texas Rangers hurler Jack Leiter on June 12 against the Boston Red Sox.

For the hard-throwing right-hander, he hasn't been able to consistently command his best pitch, which is a 98 mph four-seam fastball that rises through the zone. It reared its ugly head again in what was his worst start of the season on Friday as the Rangers lost 10-1, and Leiter was rocked for five earned runs on eight hits and two walks in five innings. His ERA is now at a season high of 4.97.

You knew it was going to be a long day for the Vanderbilt product when he labored through the first two frames on 49 pitches because he couldn't find the strike zone early in counts with his plus fastball.

The Rangers' blowout loss to the Red Sox highlighted Leiter's shortcomings, which can be dealt with in two ways

The numbers tell the story as to why Leiter is struggling so badly and regressing from the strides he made in the second half of 2025.

He's got a 12.41 ERA in the fifth inning versus a 3.53 ERA in all other frames. That sort of coincides with his obvious problem facing opposing lineups the second and third time through. He has a 2.53 ERA the first time through the order, the second time through it jumps to 5.61, and the third time through it shoots up to 8.35.

So when Leiter is struggling early in the first trip through the lineup, as he did in Boston, it's a consistent indicator that he is unlikely to right the ship as the game progresses. The question is, with Leiter's obvious regression in 2026, how should the team go about fixing him and accentuating what he does well while trying to eliminate the weaker areas of his game?

The first option is to send him down to Round Rock or Frisco to work solely on mastering the location of his four-seamer. He could do that in a starting capacity, where he could still throw 80-90 pitches per outing. The results are almost unimportant as long as he is working on pitching to exact spots in the zone.

A second option is to consider using Leiter as a long reliever. No one is denying that he has electric stuff that is nearly unhittable when he is hitting his spots. Using him and his dynamic heater and sharp slider just once through the order could be a more suitable role for him.

Either way, Leiter's stuff is too good, and potential is still way too high to think about trading him, and we don't think that Chris Young should be listening to offers for him. Even though he hasn't become the dominant hurler we were hoping for after marked improvement last season, he is still very young and has shown flashes that make fans drool over the possibilities.

Admittedly, however, eventually, he is going to have to parlay that potential into consistent major league results if he wants to keep his spot in the rotation.

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