Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park, Texas Rangers pitching prospect Jack Leiter made his MLB debut in opposition to the Detroit Tigers (GameTracker). Leiter was the No. 2 choose within the 2021 draft and his father, Al Leiter, gained 162 video games throughout a 19-year huge league profession from 1987-2005.
“It was a protracted dialog and I used to be sort of blacked out,” Leiter mentioned about telling his father after being referred to as up (through MLB.com). “He mentioned how proud he was. Simply reflecting on being a bit child within the yard and all these particular, particular recollections trying again of working arduous from a younger age. That was a particular dialog, for positive.”
Leiter’s debut began properly sufficient. He struck out Riley Greene, the primary batter he confronted, on three pitches. Leiter additionally punched out Kerry Carpenter on a nasty changeup, and pitched round a single and a stroll in a scoreless first inning. Right here is his first profession strikeout with mother and pa in attendance:
The second inning didn’t go so properly. The Rangers staked Leiter to a 4-0 lead in opposition to Kenta Maeda and Leiter gave all of it again. The primary three batters of the second inning reached base, and by the point it was over, Detroit had tied the sport thanks partially to a Javier Báez double, a Greene triple, and a Mark Canha single. The Tigers pushed Leiter’s pitch depend as much as 52 after two innings.
Detroit added one other three runs within the fourth inning when Leodys Taveras was unable to reel in Carpenter’s excessive fly ball to middle subject, leading to a two-run triple. It was loud contact. It was additionally a play you want your middle fielder to make. Spencer Torkelson adopted with an RBI double to knot the sport up 7-7, and finish Leiter’s afternoon.
Leiter’s debut was historic. That is the primary time in baseball historical past two brothers who performed within the huge leagues even have sons who performed within the huge leagues. Al’s brother, Mark, pitched 11 seasons from 1990-2001, and his son, Mark Leiter Jr., is at present with the Chicago Cubs. Jack, Mark Sr., and Mark Jr. are all right-handed pitchers. Al was a lefty.
Rising up in New Jersey, Leiter was highschool teammates with New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, and the Yankees drafted each gamers in 2019. Volpe was a primary spherical choose and Leiter was a twentieth rounder as a result of he made it clear he was going to Vanderbilt. He didn’t signal with the Yankees, and, two years later, he was the No. 2 choose.
“We now have an off-day, so (I’ll watch) each pitch,” Volpe mentioned about Leiter’s name up (through the New York Submit). “… I could not be happier for him and his complete household, for everybody. I am tremendous excited. I am positive his cellphone was going loopy and all of our family and friends mates are tremendous pumped.”
Regardless of being the No. 2 choose within the 2021 draft, Leiter’s had some ups and downs in his profession, and he didn’t rank amongst our high 50 prospects coming into the season. Baseball America didn’t rank Leiter amongst their high 100 prospects, saying “he might need an opportunity to suit at the back of a rotation” with some changes.
Leiter, 23, was referred to as up as a result of Cody Bradford (again pressure) joined Jacob deGrom (Tommy John surgical procedure), Tyler Mahle (Tommy John surgical procedure), and Max Scherzer (again surgical procedure) on the injured checklist earlier this week. Leiter struck out 25 batters and had a 3.77 ERA in 14 1/3 Triple-A earlier than being promoted.
