Jack Thomas Leiter (born April 21, 2000) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the Texas Rangers organization. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Vanderbilt Commodores The Vanderbilt Commodores are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams (6 men's teams and 10 women's team ...

and was selected by the Rangers with the second overall pick of the 2021 MLB draft.

Amateur career

Raised in

Summit, New Jersey Summit is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The city is located on a ridge in northern- central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. At the 2010 United Sta ...

, Leiter attended

Delbarton School Delbarton School is a private all-male Catholic Church, Catholic college-preparatory school in Morristown, New Jersey for young men in seventh grade, seventh through twelfth grades. It is an independent school directed by the Benedictine monks ...

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a town and the county seat of Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

, where he played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and was teammates with Anthony Volpe. In July 2018, he played in the 2018

Under Armour All-America Baseball Game The Under Armour High School All-America Baseball Game is a high school baseball all-star game held annually to spotlight the United States' top high school players who are juniors or seniors. The game is played in late July or August, at Wrigley ...

. In December, he played on the

USA Baseball USA Baseball is the national governing body for organized baseball in the United States, and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee and the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The organization selects and trains the World Basebal ...

18U National Team in

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

during the 2018 COPABE Pan-American Championships, helping Team USA win a gold medal. As a senior at Delbarton in 2019, he was named the

Gatorade Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine playe ...

for the state of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. At the time of his selection, he was 6–0 with a 0.54 ERA while also batting .364. Leiter was considered a top prospect for the 2019 Major League Baseball draft, but due to his strong commitment to

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

, was not selected until the 20th round by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

. He did not sign and instead enrolled at Vanderbilt to play

. In his college debut on February 18, 2020, Leiter pitched five no-hit innings while striking out 12, leading Vanderbilt to a 3–0 victory over the

University of South Alabama The University of South Alabama (USA) is a public research university in Mobile, Alabama. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May, 1963, and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alabama. The first ...

. He was named the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) Co-Freshman of the Week following the performance. Over 15 innings, Leiter went 2–0 with a 1.72 ERA before the college baseball season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic. As a redshirt freshman in 2021, Leiter returned as a member of Vanderbilt's starting rotation. On March 20, 2021, he pitched a no-hitter in his SEC debut against South Carolina, compiling sixteen strikeouts. In his next start, he pitched seven no-hit innings against Missouri. He was named the SEC Newcomer of the Year alongside being selected a consensus first-team All-American. He helped lead Vanderbilt to the 2021 College World Series finals and was named to the All-Tournament team. Leiter ended the 2021 season having started 18 games, in which he compiled an 11–4 record, a 2.13 ERA, and 179 strikeouts over 110 innings. He was named the ''

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'' 2021 Freshman of the Year.

Professional career

Leiter was selected by the Texas Rangers with the second overall selection in the 2021 Major League Baseball draft. Leiter signed with Texas on July 28, 2021, receiving a $7.92 million

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

. Leiter attended an organization draftee orientation at the Rangers spring training complex after signing, but did not appear in a professional game in 2021, instead choosing to return to Vanderbilt to continue college course work. Leiter opened the 2022 season with the

Frisco RoughRiders The Frisco RoughRiders (often shortened to 'Riders) are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers. They are located in Frisco, Texas, and are nam ...

of the Double-A

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

. He made his professional debut on April 9, going three innings while allowing one run and striking out seven batters. He was selected to represent the Rangers at the 2022

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League ...

. Over 23 games (22 starts) with Frisco, Leiter went 3-10 with a 5.54 ERA, 56 walks, and 109 strikeouts over 92 innings. He received a non-roster invitation to major league spring training in 2023.

Personal life

Leiter's father,

Al Leiter Alois Terry Leiter (; born October 23, 1965) is an American former professional baseball player and current television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from to for the New York Yankees, Toronto Blu ...

, pitched in MLB for 19 seasons. His uncle

Mark Leiter Mark Edward Leiter (born April 13, 1963) is an American former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who had an 11-year career from to and in . Leiter grew up in Toms River, New Jersey. Leiter graduated from Central Regional High Scho ...

also played in MLB, and his cousin, Mark Leiter Jr., currently plays professional baseball.

References

External links

Vanderbilt Commodores bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leiter, Jack 2000 births Living people All-American college baseball players Baseball players from New Jersey Baseball pitchers Delbarton School alumni Frisco RoughRiders players People from Summit, New Jersey Sportspeople from Union County, New Jersey Vanderbilt Commodores baseball players United States national baseball team players