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Gunnar Word Gunnar Word / Texas Rangers
Kumar Rocker
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Gunnar Word Gunnar Word / Texas Rangers
Jack Leiter
Four years ago, the Texas Rangers tapped two pitchers from Vanderbilt — the rigorous academic institution and baseball factory in Nashville — to be the core of a starting rotation that would churn out quality innings for what they hoped would be World Series contenders for years to come.
Well, that future is now.
Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker, two of the most dominating pitchers in the nation while teammates at Vanderbilt and the two most highly touted prospects in the Rangers farm system, not only earned spots in the club’s rotation this spring, they’re also being asked to fill big holes for a team with World Series ambitions in 2025.
Injuries to starters Jon Gray and Cody Bradford, and Dane Dunning’s spring struggles, opened spots in the rotation. The young right-handers, who made their major-league debuts in 2024 and entered camp as strong candidates to earn Opening Day roster spots, have been tasked to fill the void with Gray and Bradford recovering.
Leiter, who turned 25 on April 21, spent 10 days on the injured list with a blister on his throwing hand after getting off to a blistering start. He’s 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA after two starts, with 10 strikeouts and a walk over 10 innings.
The son of former Major League All-Star Al Leiter, he was the No. 2 overall pick by the Rangers in the 2021 MLB Draft. His pedigree and draft status had Rangers fans licking their chops about the future. He earned a $7.9 million signing bonus — the fourth highest in MLB draft history at the time.
The same goes for Rocker, who turns 26 in November. He was taken No. 3 overall by Texas in the 2022 MLB Draft and earned a $5.2 million signing bonus. The previous year, the New York Mets declined to sign him after selecting him 10th overall in 2021. The Mets had medical concerns, which eventually manifested in Tommy John surgery in 2023. After making his return to the mound last summer, Rocker dominated in the minors and earned a September call-up to the big club.
Although he’s 1-2 with a 6.38 ERA after four starts and — as of this writing — he has flashed plenty of signs of dominating stuff.
Gunnar Word
“We’re both excited,” Leiter said when the pair learned they were on the Opening Day roster. “At Vandy that last year, I don’t think we ever could have imagined that this would be happening — same team, same rotation, Opening Day rosters — yeah, it’s awesome.”
Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young envisioned the “Vandy Boys” anchoring the rotation when they were drafted.
“What I’m most excited for is watching them continue to improve and grow and help us try to win our division and a championship,” Young said. “That will be the definition of their success. It’s not going to be just making the Opening Day club. It’s what we do from here, moving forward. But they’re ready for this level. They’ve shown flashes of it. They’re great competitors, and they’re only going to get better. I think the talent for both is obvious, and they’ve earned the right to be out here.”
Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin saw how competitive they were on the mound and how competitive they were with one another during the 2021 season for the Commodores. From the mound, the two helped lead Vandy to the very brink of College World Series glory as runners-up to Mississippi State.
“They were advanced because of their skills, their competitive spirit within competition,” Corbin said during an MLB.com video interview. “They came from different backgrounds, but at the same time, both unique and similar backgrounds. They were privy to big environments, to things that other kids didn’t have. Because of that, they both were probably very intuitive to competition. They understood it.”
Rocker’s father, Tracy Rocker, is a College Football Hall of Famer from Auburn and a coach for the Tennessee Titans in Nashville.
“It means everything [to make the Opening Day roster],” Rocker said. “I think we’ve just gotten closer as friends, as teammates just doing it side by side. This being the first year is going to be something special.”
Corbin thinks the delay to the big leagues — Leiter’s struggles in the minors for a couple of seasons and Rocker’s surgery — will only serve to make them better pitchers.
“All of those things are put in their lives for a reason,” he said. “Setbacks help comebacks. Those kids will profit from having to go through that. It just adds another layer of skin to what they already have. Their fibers are already very strong individually, so those experiences will help sharpen them and help shape them too in the big leagues … it’s not so much how quickly you can get there. It’s about when you get there, can you stay there for a lengthy amount of time and make yourself a career? I think they’ll both do that.”
The Rangers are counting on it.
