Teammates since college, Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter eager to replicate star run with Rangers

SURPRISE, Ariz. — The Texas Rangers attacked the free agent and trade markets aggressively this past winter in hopes of re-stocking a roster that proved to be World Series-worthy not all that long ago. Joc Pederson and Jake Burger were added to strengthen the lineup. The bullpen was completely remodeled, with Texas bringing a whopping six new relievers into the fold. Nathan Eovaldi, the most reliable member of Texas’ starting staff over the past two years, was retained on a lucrative three-year contract.

Of course, no offseason transaction carries as much significance for Texas as the possibility of getting a full season from ace Jacob deGrom. This is a pitcher who won consecutive Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019 and then somehow seemed to get even better in the seasons that followed, albeit with frequent injury-related interruptions along the way. Those ailments unfortunately reached a breaking point when deGrom needed Tommy John surgery just six starts into the five-year, $185 million deal he inked before the 2023 season. That put him on the shelf for the entirety of Texas’ championship run and the majority of 2024 as well.

GeGrom’s return to the mound late last season came with relatively minimal fanfare considering Texas’ place in the standings. But he looked like himself, with his heater humming at 98 mph and his hard slider coaxing whiffs like it always has. It was too late for deGrom to alter the 2024 Rangers’ fate, but his form in those three September starts was an encouraging preview of his potential impact on the 2025 team.

“To get a full year, the first full year with him, will be a lot of fun,” said shortstop Corey Seager. “I know that’s got to feel good for him, just a sigh of relief. It’s been a long couple years for him, so he’s got to be pretty excited and we’re excited to have him.”

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy recently revealed that deGrom will slot into the latter portion of the Rangers rotation in an effort to ease the prized pitcher into season. With how Texas’ April schedule lines up, this arrangement will afford deGrom some additional days of rest in the early going as he builds toward a more traditional workload. Eovaldi, then, should get the nod on Opening Day, with right-handers Jon Gray and Tyler Mahle, plus lefty Cody Bradford, following behind him.

A fully operational deGrom unquestionably alters the complexion of this veteran-laden rotation, easing the expectations on the others to perform beyond their capabilities. But it also takes a whole lot more than five starting pitchers to make it through a 162-game regular season, let alone the grueling postseason tournament that follows in October. And lurking beyond the projected starting staff are two talented yet unrefined right-handers who are eager to finally prove themselves at the highest level for a team that will surely need them at some point: Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker.

College duo charts parallel paths to big leagues

Among Texas pitchers not named deGrom, it is perhaps these two young hurlers whose seasons ahead could most influence the Rangers’ success. The duo charted vastly different yet similarly bumpy roads from the ultimate highs of collegiate stardom as teammates at Vanderbilt University to their highly anticipated major league debuts last summer. Now entering their age-25 seasons, both Rocker and Leiter have embraced the struggles they’ve endured along the way and continue to relish the unexpected reality of pursuing their big league dreams in the same clubhouse.

“I think if you told us that last year at Vandy, while we were in Omaha, that we were going to be debuting the same year for the same team in the big leagues, I don’t think we would have believed it,” said Leiter. “It just didn’t seem possible.”

Earlier this spring, Rocker and Leiter were two of several former Commodores in attendance to see their university compete at Salt River Fields, just across town from the Rangers’ spring training facility, in the Desert Invitational. It was an apt opportunity to reflect on their respective journeys to this point, and a full-circle moment for Rocker in particular: almost exactly six years earlier, he had made his first collegiate start on that same field — and failed to make it out of the second inning. That inaugural outing was a humbling start to what went on to be a historic freshman campaign for Rocker, punctuated most notably by a 19-strikeout no-hitter in the super regional against Duke en route to the program’s second national championship.

The following fall, another highly touted righty arrived on campus in Nashville in Leiter, the son of 19-year big league southpaw Al Leiter. Excitement quickly mounted regarding the possibility of what Leiter and Rocker could achieve together atop Vanderbilt’s rotation in 2020, but the hype was postponed when the NCAA season was canceled due to the pandemic. In 2021, it was Leiter’s turn to take the college baseball world by storm, including a 16-strikeout no-hitter of his own. While Rocker and his wicked slider carved opponents on Fridays, Leiter’s freakish fastball starred on Saturdays. The duo carried the Commodores all spring long, nearly to another title, falling to Mississippi State in the College World Series finals.

Though they fell short of their collective goal, Rocker and Leiter had separated themselves from the rest of their peers as the two best college pitchers in the 2021 MLB Draft. With both expected to be selected early in the first round, there was little reason to expect the two to be drafted by the same team. Texas selected Leiter second overall, while Rocker fell to the Mets at pick No. 10. But Rocker and the Mets failed to come to terms on a deal after a dispute involving Rocker’s medical situation. Rather than return to Vanderbilt for another season, Rocker opted to pitch in the independent Frontier League in hopes of proving his health and earning another early selection in the 2022 draft. Sure enough, with the Rangers holding a high pick for the second consecutive year, an unlikely reunion was in store: Texas selected Rocker third overall, seemingly paying the way for the Vandy duo to zoom to the big leagues together as the frontline arms headlining the Rangers’ rebuild.

But it would hardly be that simple.

A tough adjustment to the pros

Leiter’s introduction to pro ball was rough. At the time of Rocker’s selection in 2022, Leiter had a 6.30 ERA in Double-A. It didn’t improve much down the stretch, setting up a return to the level to begin the 2023 season. Rocker started the year strong in High-A, but just as he was gearing up for a promotion to join Leiter in Double-A, he suffered an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. Meanwhile, Leiter continued to scuffle in the minors and his prospect stock started to fade. The outlook for the celebrated pair was suddenly much hazier.

As Rocker’s rehab progressed, Leiter arrived at spring training a year ago determined to get back on track. He had overcome the mechanical maladies that plagued him the year prior, putting him in better position to make his long-awaited big league debut. That day finally came in April after a trio of stellar outings in Triple-A, though Leiter was optioned back to the minors after allowing seven runs in his first start. It wasn’t exactly a dream debut for Leiter, but it firmly put him back on the radar as a viable rotation candidate. Then Rocker returned to the mound in July and was utterly dominant, renewing a sense of optimism that the two could indeed join forces in Texas in the near future. The vision finally came to fruition when Rocker made his big league debut in September, joining Leiter for the final three turns through the rotation.

Though reaching the majors with the same team in the same year felt like the culmination of so much for Rocker and Leiter, it also merely marked the beginning of their respective big league stories. It took a rather extraordinary sequence of events for the former college teammates to end up donning the same threads as professionals. Now it’s about making the most of the opportunity in front of them.

For Leiter, that means translating what was working well for him in the minors into consistent run prevention in the majors. Despite substantial success with Round Rock — among starting pitchers with at least 70 innings in Triple-A, Leiter’s 33.3% strikeout rate ranked first — Leiter got knocked around to the tune of an 8.83 ERA with Texas across 35 2/3 innings.

“I would get called up and want to do it all at once in the big leagues,” Leiter said. “I think at times it was like, ‘oh, now I’m in the big leagues, I have to do more’ instead of just doing what you were doing. And towards the end, I think I started to find my footing a little bit in the big leagues. And that was pretty cool.”

His manager has also noticed the progress.

“He had some bumps in the road coming up — that’s a valuable experience for him to get that time,” said Bochy. “And I thought he got better each time he came up; he looked more and more comfortable.”

Leiter has looked sharp this spring, having applied lessons last year to what he focused on in the offseason. On the mound, that means continuing to hone his delivery and refining a repertoire that failed to consistently fool big league bats last season.

“Some little tweaks, working on just adding a little two-seam fastball to keep right-handed hitters honest and working on increasing the usage of the changeup. Just little things, and just continuing to streamline mechanics, but understanding that it’s little tiny tweaks. In the past offseasons, it felt like overhauls. This year was, ‘no, we’re in a good spot.’ One small tweak at a time, and we’re gonna be in a really good spot. So it was cool to have that experience compared to past offseasons.”

Leiter has also gained greater appreciation for what it takes off the field to get his body in the best position to succeed on it.

“Just finding a balance in every way. Not overworking in terms of workouts in the gym, seeing what big league guys do in their routines, understanding they do exactly what they need to do and no more,” he said. “Learning that that’s a thing too, is doing too much. So I think it’s just finding a balance.

“Some guys are gifted enough to find that at a super young age in their early 20s, I’m thankful that I’m starting to find it,” explained Leiter. “I don’t think you ever fully find it, but just feeling like things are moving in the right direction and I’m excited.”

Bochy acknowledged that Leiter’s time will come at some point this year, if not as part of the Opening Day roster.

“He’s in the mix to make this team,” Bochy said. “Regardless of what happens, he’s gonna be part of this club.”

Having raced to the big leagues once healthy last summer, Rocker is now tasked with adjusting to facing elite competition on a regular basis. It’s a rather steep learning curve for a pitcher who has only made 29 professional starts across all levels over the past three years. While his high-end velocity has been fully intact this spring, his command has lacked thus far.

“Counts,” Rocker says affirmatively when asked the biggest lesson taken from his brief big league cameo last September. “I gotta win those counts, I gotta win 0-0, gotta win 0-1, 1-2, 2-1… that’s where the game is played, and that’s where the chess match goes on. Just trying to focus and control those counts a little bit more.”

Rocker is working on incorporating his two-seam fastball more this year, a pitch that has made considerable strides since he joined the Rangers’ system. “I’ve always had a two-seam option, just never really knew what to do with it,” said Rocker, who has long relied primarily on his high-velocity four-seamer and a dastardly slider that already rates as one of the better breaking pitches in baseball. But stuff only takes pitchers so far when facing the best hitters on the planet. “When you give them an inch,” said Rocker, “they’re gonna take a mile.”

There is much more to be learned for both Rocker and Leiter as the two pitchers prepare for a season in which they both hope to contribute at the highest level at some point. Just as their journey to this point has hardly unfolded as planned, it’d be foolish to project exactly what the next chapter for this duo may look like. But that they get to take on the challenge of becoming big league starting pitchers as teammates is not lost on them, either.

“The fact that it’s worked out this way, it has been pretty special,” said Leiter. “And it’s been awesome to have [Rocker] here, because I feel like we make each other better and it’s fun to watch him go about his business.”