Leiter dials up the heat for Round Rock

Triple-A Round Rock pitching coach Dave Borkowski could just tell from watching Jack Leiter warm up that his right-handed fireballer was about to have a great outing. “Dialed in” from the outset, he carried that mindset into a short-but-mighty outing featuring a lot of strikeouts and two 100 mph pitches.

The Rangers’ No. 4 prospect only went 3 2/3 frames, but he recorded all 11 of his outs via the strikeout in the Express' eventual 4-3 loss to the Albuquerque Isotopes on Thursday night at Dell Diamond. Leiter's latest outing was representative of what the 2021 second overall pick can do on the mound when he has command of his pitches.

“As a starter to do that and get 11 strikeouts, I’ve never seen that before. Pretty good chance I never will,” Borkowski said. “It just tells you how good he was. His stuff was all dominant. He was efficient at doing it. Strike one got ahead, got to two strikes, and put him away. No real messing around out there.”

Leiter has been working on making better adjustments and sticking to his routine since a brief callup for a couple of starts with the Rangers in May.

One by one, the Isotopes (Rockies) stepped up to the plate Thursday to face the Vanderbilt product and found it difficult to connect on his offerings.

Meanwhile, control gave Leiter confidence and trust in his pitching arsenal. The 24-year-old’s most dangerous weapon of the night was his fastball -- which reached 100 mph twice in the second inning. The heater generated 21 swings and 11 whiffs.

“[His fastball] was super lively. It was jumping out of his hand,” Borkowski said. “He was able to pound the zone, get ahead, get missed in the zone and be able to expand. And then as he needed to add the slider, some curveballs, maybe one change up here and there. It was just enough of a wrinkle to keep them off the heater. And he just kept beating them with it.”

“I don’t think [the velocity] is something we’re searching for with him,” he added. “He’s got a big fastball regardless. I think the freedom and how his body worked and being loose and easy instead of (forced) and tight and trying to throw hard is what got those big numbers today and got him consistently in the upper 90s.” '

With a sizable gap between outings -- Leiter last appeared for Round Rock on July 27 -- the goal was to manage his workload. His night was capped after 62 pitches -- 41 for strikes -- during which he allowed one run on one hit and one walk.

The team waited for him in the dugout after he exited the game, all fired up with high-fives and praise.

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“What he did was enough for the first time out,” the pitching coach said. “We’ll keep building him up and give him some more pitches and innings as we go here.”

Leiter can “sleep well tonight,” but the celebration will be short-lived.

“This is one you enjoy,” Borkowski said. “The next start is the next start. [The opponents] are not going to lay down their hat just because of what you did in the previous one, and they are going to go out and compete against you. He’s going to have to get his work done between starts and be ready to go.”