Texas Rangers to call up RHP Jack Leiter for MLB debut vs. Tigers on Thursday

DETROIT — Texas Rangers prospect Jack Leiter will make his major league debut on Thursday, manager Bruce Bochy said Tuesday. Leiter, a right-handed pitcher, will start in Detroit for the series finale.

Leiter, 23, has a 3.77 ERA in 14 1/3 innings pitched (three starts) for the Triple-A Round Rock Express with a 25-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He generated 18 swings-and-misses in his most recent start vs. Oklahoma City on Friday and allowed three runs on three solo home runs in six innings pitched. His fastball — which reached 98.2 mph — was responsible for 12 of them. Batters have hit just .208 against him, and his WHIP is at 0.98.

“I told him when he left [spring training], we’re going to need him,” Bochy said. “I loved the way he was throwing. Fully expected him to be up at some point this year.”

Texas is expected to select Leiter’s contract from Triple-A prior to Thursday’s game. The Rangers will need to add him to the 40-man roster beforehand. Leiter will become the fourth first-round draft choice to debut for Texas this season, joining outfielder Wyatt Langford (2023), infielder Justin Foscue (2020), infielder Davis Wendzel (2019, competitive balance round) and pitcher Cole Winn (2018).

MLB Pipeline ranks Leiter as the organization’s No. 8 prospect, and Baseball America ranks him as the organization’s No. 13 prospect.

The Rangers are in the midst of a 17-games-in-17-days stretch and are down a starting pitcher with Cody Bradford (back strain) on the injured list. Right-hander Dane Dunning will start against the Tigers on Wednesday; left-hander Andrew Heaney would have been slated to pitch Thursday, but Leiter’s addition gives Heaney — and in turn, the rest of the rotation — an extra day of rest before a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves.

“You earned things, and he earned this,” Bochy said of Leiter’s callup. “This is a pretty easy one to be honest.”

Leiter, the son of former major leaguer Al Leiter, was selected No. 2 overall out of Vanderbilt in the 2021 MLB draft. He was considered the most pro-ready arm in that draft class after a sterling career with the Commadores in which he was named a consensus first-team All-American in his freshman season, and the Rangers signed him to a then-club record $7.789 million signing bonus. It was the most given out to a pitcher since the Pittsburgh Pirates gave first-overall pick Gerrit Cole an $8 million bonus in 2011.

He ranked as high as No. 25 on Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list and projected as an arm that could cruise through the Rangers’ system and into the major leagues quickly, but struggles with command sunk his stock. Leiter yielded a 5.19 ERA in 85 innings pitched (with 114 strikeouts to 49 walks) last season and spent two stints on the developmental list to revamp his mechanics. He reached Triple-A by September, and recorded a 4.26 ERA with an 8-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio in eight Cactus League exhibitions this spring. His control has improved signifcantly, and he posted two zero-walk games in his first three starts of the season.

Bochy wanted Leiter to leave Surprise, Ariz. with the confidence and understanding that he can pitch at the major league level. He’ll have the chance to do so for real on Thursday.

“I can’t control it, but what I can control is each day getting better,” Leiter said in March, when asked about his chance at an opening day roster spot. “and doing what I can to — if it’s not out of camp, at some point — impact the team and do it at a high level. I know I’m capable of that, and I feel confident in my ability to throw wherever I start off. I feel good.”

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