Rangers manager Bruce Bochy has some advice for prospect Jack Leiter as the 2024 season approaches.
Leiter, the N.J. native who went second overall to Texas in 2021, struggled in the minors last season. He posted a 5.19 ERA in 85 innings between Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock, and he twice landed on the developmental list.
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The expectations are high for Leiter, who is ranked by Baseball America as the Rangers’ No. 13 prospect and is the son of former Mets pitcher Al Leiter.
“I think any baseball player can feed into the expectations of others once and a while,” Leiter said, via Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News. “I think I’ve kind of had that training since I was little and having the ‘Leiter’ name on my back. Obviously there’s expectations there, but there have been since I was little. It doesn’t affect me in any different way, it’s more about my expectations for myself.”
Bochy wants Leiter, a Delbarton graduate, to ignore the externals.
“[I don’t want him to] get too caught up in a lot of things that some people may think you need to do or whatever — I’m talking about outside the organization,” Bochy said, via McFarland. “Just go out there and let your stuff work, because his stuff will work.”
