KANSAS CITY -- The anatomy of a Jack Leiter start has been the same lately: a lot of walks, a lot of strikeouts. Some high-powered fastballs to go along with some shaky command.
Leiter’s 3.86 ERA in four August starts doesn’t immediately show any red flags. But Monday night’s 4-3 loss to the Royals at Kauffman Stadium was the perfect illustration of Leiter’s up-and-down rookie season.
Leiter opened the matchup against the Royals with three straight balls to Mike Yastrzemski. After getting back into a full count, Yastrzemski blasted a Statcast-projected 412-foot leadoff homer. It was the first of two homers the 25-year-old surrendered, leading to yet another brief outing for him.
The Rangers’ rookie ultimately pitched just 3 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on six hits and three walks. He recorded only 11 outs in the loss, just one more than his season low of 10 (3 1/3 IP) on April 27 at San Francisco and Aug. 6 against the Yankees.
“It was a little bumpy for him,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “A lot of pitches. The long ball got him good at times. Other times he just missed his location. He’s just a little scattered at times. … He’s just gotta throw strikes. I hate to keep it simple, but that's what it is with him. This stuff's so good. It's so good. He's brilliant at times, and he gets a little out of sync there, gets a little scattered. That's what gets him in trouble.”
That’s really the gist of it. At times, Leiter looks like he has the potential to be the dominant ace the Rangers expected when they selected him at No. 2 overall in the 2021 MLB Draft. At others, he looks like he’s overthinking each pitch like it’s the nuclear launch codes.
Leiter, for what it’s worth, is not oblivious to his struggles.
He knows that at the heart of everything, a starting pitcher needs to be able to go six or seven innings each time out. He hasn’t completed six full innings since July 27 at home against the Braves, when he dealt six frames of one-run ball. That was also the last time he had a winning decision.
Leiter knows that constantly navigating command issues and walking as many batters as he has is not the path to success. In fact, the Rangers are just 7-15 in Leiter’s 22 starts this season and have lost each of the last four and 15 of the last 20 since starting the year 2-0.
“The reason varies,” Leiter said of his struggles with efficiency. “Some outings, it's been a little bit of mechanics, or getting too rushed, getting too quick. Some outings, it's been a pitch-selection thing, throwing certain pitches that weren't as strikeable in counts I needed to throw strikes. That's all part of the learning process. A major goal for me early on was to learn as much as I possibly can, and ideally help the team win. I haven't been able to do that the last couple times out.”
Leiter has all the tools to be a successful big leaguer. He’s shown it in various flashes throughout the season. He’s also grown leaps and bounds since his debut year in 2024, when he pitched just 35 2/3 innings in brief stints with the big league club.
It hasn’t been perfect -- that much is obvious -- but president of baseball operations Chris Young noted that Leiter’s progression this year has been one of the positives for the club.
“As with any young pitcher you see, [there are] times where they go through little periods of struggle, but how you come through those defines who you are,” Young said pregame. “Jack has handled those really, really well. There come moments where he's been -- you see stretches where he's close to dominant, and some stretches where you're like, ‘Oh man, he just loses it a little bit.’
“It's about making those valleys a little less steep and being a little more consistent. It's been fun to watch. He competes, he learns. I think the growth has been tremendous, and it's just been wonderful watching him. I'm excited to see him finish strong here.”