Jack Leiter took a small but meaningful step in his return on Thursday, and he did a little more than the Rangers asked for.
In his first injury rehab outing with Triple-A Round Rock, Leiter was supposed to work around 40 to 45 pitches. Instead, he got to 48, with 32 of them going for strikes. He lasted 2.2 innings, faced 10 hitters, and allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out three.
That was his first game action of any kind since June.
Leiter has been out since ankle surgery in June, when doctors removed an extraneous bone. The issue stemmed from a game in April, when he slipped in the visitor’s on-deck circle while backing up home plate. After the surgery, he told reporters the pain had gotten steadily worse, and that it had started to affect his delivery because the bone was in his plant foot.
Before the injury, Leiter was 3-7 with a 5.29 ERA in 15 games. That was a sharp drop from last season, when he went 10-10 with a 3.86 ERA and picked up votes for American League rookie of the year.
Now the Rangers have a couple of ways they could map out his return. One is the more standard route: build him back up as a starter and get him ready for the rotation.
To do that, he would need to add 12-15 pitches over two more starts, which would get him to 75 pitches, the level most MLB teams are comfortable with before activation. If that’s the plan, Leiter could reach that point by Aug. 25 or 26, depending on rest days, and be back in September.
The other option is a shift to the bullpen, something president of baseball operations Chris Young acknowledged earlier this week. Under that scenario, Leiter could make one more rehab start next week, likely Tuesday or Wednesday, and get to 60 pitches. That would put him in line to serve as a long reliever for a bullpen that could use more depth, and he could be available to help Texas before a third rehab start would be necessary.
For now, though, the Rangers are taking it one step at a time. They’ll talk through the outing with Leiter and make sure he bounces back cleanly before deciding what comes next.
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