2024 was not an easy year for Jack Leiter. After immense struggles at the big league level in both the rotation and the bullpen, Leiter’s role on the 2025 team is one of the biggest storylines as camp gets set to break.

However, entering the offseason, Leiter wasn’t focused on his impending role but rather on his personal development.

“I was able to do fun stuff and kind of just hone my craft.” One of the fun things Leiter was able to do was add a new two-seam fastball.

“The two-seam fastball is just to give another look. It’s to get in on righties, away from lefties, kind of get to that quadrant that I’m not as good at getting to with the four-seam, and it makes the four-seam play better as a result.”

After adding the new fastball and refining his highly used changeup, things have been going well for Leiter this spring.

In five appearances, Leiter has thrown 14.2 innings to the tune of a 3.07 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP with 17 punchouts.

However, the flashy numbers aren’t the only impressive thing Leiter has been showing. Each of Leiter’s pitches has been clocked significantly faster than it was last season.

When you combine the promise Leiter has shown this spring with the Rangers’ current pitching situation, you could have a unique opportunity.

Jon Gray being out for at least six weeks and Cody Bradford being shut down for at least four, could provide Leiter with an opportunity to get some run early on.

That sentiment was echoed by Bruce Bochy last week. “We got two good candidates, as you well know. A couple of young guys, to be specific. You’re looking at [Jack] Leiter or Kumar [Rocker].”

If indeed Leiter can build off his spring promise and start to turn into the pitcher the Rangers drafted number two overall in 2021, the suddenly dire Rangers starting pitching situation will gain a much-needed breath of fresh air.