Rangers to promote top pitching prospect, continue loading up for repeat

The Rangers are off to just a 9-8 start, but with the rest of the division at .500 or worse, they enter Tuesday in first place.

The Right-hander Leiter is expected to join a rotation that already includes two-time All-Star Nathan Eovaldi and should welcome back three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer later in the spring. Two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom is aiming to return from injury at some point during the 2024 season as well.

Leiter will be the fifth notable recent draft pick to be called up already by Texas this spring.

The 23-year-old is the son of former two-time All-Star starting pitcher Al Leiter.

The younger Leiter was originally selected by the New York Yankees in the 20th round of the 2019 draft but elected to enroll at Vanderbilt and play with the Commodores. His first season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and he returned to the team's starting rotation in 2021 as a redshirt freshman.

Leiter paired with fellow Rangers pitching prospect Kumar Rocker atop a dominant Vanderbilt staff to lead the program to that year's College World Series, where they lost to Mississippi State. Leiter was a consensus First-Team All-American, earned the SEC Newcomer of the Year Award and was named to the All-Tournament Team as the lone representative from his team.

After being selected by the Rangers with the No. 2 overall pick in 2021, he spent the 2022 campaign with the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders. Leiter pitched with the RoughRiders and Triple-A Round Rock Express in 2023.

He went 1-1 with a 3.70 ERA, 0.97 WHIP and MiLB-leading 25 strikeouts across 14 1/3 innings covering three games (two starts) with Round Rock in 2024.