The Dodgers have pushed Cam Leiter one level closer to Los Angeles.
Leiter was promoted from Class-A Ontario to advanced Class-A Great Lakes on Thursday, Aug. 20, after putting together a strong start to his first full season back from shoulder surgery. The right-hander, taken by the Dodgers in the second round last year with the 65th overall pick out of Florida State, comes with a baseball family tree that runs deep: he’s the nephew of former major league pitchers Al and Mark Leiter, and his cousins, Mark Leiter Jr. and Jack Leiter, have already made it to the big leagues.
For a pitcher with that kind of pedigree, the Dodgers still had plenty to sort through when they drafted him. Leiter didn’t pitch during his junior year in 2025 after undergoing surgery to clean up his shoulder in October 2024, so there was no game action to judge before he signed.
Even so, he showed enough in a bullpen session at the Boras Corp facility in Miami before last year’s draft to draw serious attention from 23 MLB clubs. Los Angeles signed him for $1,346,600.
That decision is looking better by the week.
At Ontario, Leiter posted a 3.09 ERA in 18 starts and held hitters to a .197 average in the hitter-friendly California League. Over 43.2 innings, he walked 22 and struck out 66.
His recent outings have only added to the optimism. In his latest start on Aug.
16, Leiter punched out five batters over three innings, and he’s been stretched beyond three innings just once so far in his comeback season. A report also said he was touching 98 mph with the Tower Buzzers, a sign that his fastball may already be back to its pre-surgery level.
That fits with the scouting picture MLB Pipeline laid out before he turned pro: “When he last pitched for the Seminoles, Leiter worked with a 95-96 mph fastball that touched 99 mph and featured carry and armside run at times and heavy sink at others. His 78-82 mph curveball and 85-89 mph slider/cutter both graded as plus pitches with quality depth at their best. He even showed signs of a solid upper-80s changeup/splitter that earned more strikes than either of his breaking balls.”
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