Jack Leiter heads to IL with ankle impingement

Leiter had loose bodies removed from his ankle a month ago. If all goes well, he could rejoin the Rangers rotation for the final month of the season.

The surgery was performed at Duke University by Dr. Ned Amendola. It comes after Leiter was placed on the injured list with a right ankle impingement prior to Sunday’s game. The Rangers expect Leiter to return before the end of 2026, but Kennedi Landry of MLB.com calls Leiter’s timeline “fluid.” Fantasy managers should be looking for replacements, if they haven’t done so already.

Leiter should be a whole lot better than this, especially while getting to pitch at Globe Life Field half of the time, but his ERA is up to 5.29 at the moment. In his three turns in June, he’s struck out a total of nine batters and given up five homers in 13 2/3 innings. He was actually 14th in the majors with 74 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings following his May 31 start. Leiter does have options left, but the Rangers don’t have any Triple-A pitchers worth trying in his place and neither Cody Bradford nor Jordan Montgomery is going to be ready prior to the second half. Leiter figures to face the Marlins next week.

Leiter ran into trouble early in this one. After walking the first batter of the game, Cedanne Rafaela would later reach on a fielder’s choice and then come around to score on a sacrifice fly by Wilyer Abreu. Willson Contreras would hit a solo homer in the next at-bat to put the Red Sox up 2-1. Leiter would settle in to pitch three straight scoreless frames after that, but surrendered four more runs in the fifth inning. Leiter’s night would end after that, as the Red Sox did enough to spoil what was otherwise a decent outing for the righty. Leiter has now allowed five earned runs in back-to-back games and has struggled to get through the fifth inning in both of those starts. We’ll see if he can turn it around in his next start, which is scheduled for Thursday against the Twins.

Leiter got off to a good start, stranding one baserunner over three scoreless innings. He then served up a solo homer to José Ramírez. Things then completely fell apart in the fifth. Brayan Rocchio took him deep for a solo homer. Leiter then gave up three more runs on a walk and three straight hits. His day would be done with two outs in the inning at 92 pitches. He struck out two. The 26-year-old right-hander will take a 4.69 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and a 76/31 K/BB ratio across 71 innings into a start against the Red Sox in Boston on Friday.

Leiter struck out 10 for the second time this month and the fourth time in his career. He still hasn’t topped that figure, but he probably will at some point before season’s end. Leiter got the win, making him 3-4 with a 4.34 ERA. He’s tied for 14th in the majors with his 74 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings. He’s a decent option in mixed leagues in another home start against Cleveland next weekend.

Leiter’s mission was to throw strikes after getting eight runs to work with in the bottom of the first, but he did go on to walk three batters anyway. Still, it proved to be a pretty easy victory for the 26-year-old, and he definitely deserved one after going 0-4 in his previous nine starts, including a loss to the Astros on May 15 in which he allowed just one run over seven innings. Leiter still isn’t pitching up to his potential, but since he has a very favorable home park backing him up, he seems worth rostering in mixed leagues. He’s due for another home start Sunday against the Royals.

Leiter threw 83 pitches in the outing, striking out five and walking two. The former top prospect has increased his K-BB% this year, but the walk rate is still hovering around double digits. Leiter has a new cutter, and the batted-ball results have been good on it, but we’re still waiting on the full breakout. He’ll carry a 4.61 ERA into his next start against the Astros.

Talk about a tough break. On the night when Leiter had one of his best outings of the season, the righty was outshone by Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti, who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning. Leiter did everything he could to position the Rangers for a win in this one, but the solo homer he allowed to Isaac Paredes in the third inning proved to be too much to overcome in this one. Leiter has allowed just one earned run in his last two starts while pitching 11 2/3 innings and striking out 12. He’ll look to pick up his second win of the season on Wednesday at the Rockies.

As you can imagine, Leiter’s command was not the best in this one, throwing just 55 percent of his pitches for strikes. However, he also induced 12 whiffs with a 12 percent swinging strike rate and was efficient in two-strike counts with a 57 percent PutAway Rate. It wasn’t a crisp outing, but Leiter made the pitches that he needed to in order to get out of trouble and showcased the ability of a strong fantasy starter. The command just really needs to be cleaned up. He’s a risky option next week against the Astros.