Vandy Boys resurgence making veteran's absence from Rangers' rotation less painful

When the Rangers took Kumar Rocker the year following Jack Leiter, something special started brewing. It is extremely rare to take two college teammates that dominated and bringing them to Major League Baseball together.

The usual situation that prospects find themselves in would be Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews going to two different teams. For college baseball enthusiasts, seeing a pair of pitchers of the caliber that Leiter and Rocker were playing together would be a dream.

It seemed to be a dream for Rangers fans as well but the road here was bumpy. It seems to be leveling out as both are starting to turn a corner.

Whether it was Rocker being injured or Leiter giving up too many runs, they couldn't get going together at the same time. This is what lead us to such a pleasant site in a weekend of misery against the division rival Seattle Mariners.

Rocker and Leiter shined in back-to-back outings versus Seattle

With the hottest hitter coming to town in Cal Raleigh, expectations weren't exactly high with how Rocker has started the year. The job was simple. Go out there with little to no backup, a depleted bullpen and put the Rangers in a position to win.

Rocker rose to this occasion and threw 97 pitches in six innings of work only allowing four hits, two runs, one walk and striking outsix. It was an impressive outing following an extremely empty and underwhelming start to the year.

The day following Rocker, Leiter also had a game plan of going deep in a game with no bullpen help, which had been Leiter's biggest problem in he big leagues and even when he has gotten good results, he has thrown far too many pitches.

It was shocking when he went out and threw 88 pitches in 6 innings of work allowing 7 hits, one run, 7 strikeouts, and the best part, zero walks. He has been incredibly effective this year but cannot go deep in games.

Positive progression for the Vandy Boys

In all of Leiter and Rocker's starts in 2025, they have reached six full innings only five times in their combined 23 starts. This has caused a lot of stress on the bullpen that has built up over time.

Figuring out how to get 6+ innings from Rocker and Leiter is not just massive for their development, but for the pitching staff as a whole. Despite both gaining recognition as workhorses, they have not been that in the MLB.

The next step to taking over the MLB just like college is to be efficient in your innings and be effective. The Vandy Boys have some of the best pure stuff in baseball they just need to use it right.

We saw a glimpse of this in that Seattle series and it has left fans frothing at the mouth for more. This couldn't be at a better time following Tyler Mahle's incredibly disappointing injury.

Rocker seems to have shaken off the early season rust and Leiter's gears are turning. You might not want to look now, but the Vandy Boys are open for business.