Rangers Rising Star Possesses Better Stuff Than Statistics Indicate

A major reason the Texas Rangers are above the .500 mark entering play on May 21 with a 25-24 record has been the performance of their pitching staff.

They have received incredible contributions from Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle, creating one of the better three-headed monsters in baseball.

That trio will need some help from here on out if the Rangers want to meet their expectations of being contenders in the American League.

Getting the offense on track is the most important thing for Texas to do, needing to score runs more consistently. But it wouldn’t hurt to have another pitcher or two emerge as a consistent producer as well.

One player to keep an eye on in that regard is Jack Leiter.

His MLB debut in 2024 was a disaster with an 8.83 ERA across 35.2 innings. He looked to have figured some things out during the offseason and got off to a stellar start in 2025, allowing one run through his first 10 innings before landing on the injured list with a blister.

Since making his return, he hasn’t been nearly as dominant.

Is There Hope for Jack Leiter To Turn His Season Around?

A big reason for his lack of success has been an inability to control his fastball.

“Six percent of his fastballs are in the 'waste' zone, too far from the plate to be competitive, and that percentage is in the bottom fifth of the league, right near Luis L. Ortiz, Freddy Peralta and Dylan Cease,” wrote Eno Sarris of The Athletic (subscription required).

There isn’t a starting pitcher in baseball who has worse fastball control than Leiter, which is leading to some underwhelming Location+ numbers. He has the fourth-worst number (90) amongst players with at least 30 innings pitched.

However, there is some hope that he can turn things around because he also possesses the sixth-best Stuff+ with the same parameters.

That provides some hope that improvements will come sooner rather than later, but there are some other underlying metrics that he also needs to overcome.

“But he’s no sure thing. His strikeout-minus-walk rate is terrible, he’s fallen apart in starts that should’ve been gimmes and his ERA estimators are awful,” Sarris added.

With scheduled starts against the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals coming up, Leiter has a chance to prove his seven-inning, three-run outing against the Houston Astros last time out was no fluke and a sign of his adjustments paying off.

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