When the Texas Rangers selected Jack Leiter with the No. 2 pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, the expectation was not simply that he would reach the majors. The expectation was that he would become a cornerstone.

Everything pointed in that direction.

Leiter came from one of baseball’s most recognizable families, entered professional baseball with elite prospect status, and arrived after dominating at Vanderbilt against top SEC competition.

But years into his Rangers career, the production still has not consistently matched the profile.

The frustration for Texas is not that Leiter has never shown flashes.

It is that those flashes continue to disappear just as momentum begins to build.

His career has been marked by stretches of inefficiency, inconsistent command, and an inability to turn promising outings into sustained success.

The Rangers have not been perfect around him either.

For a club that committed major contracts, moved premium prospect capital, and invested heavily in pitching, the results have not fully matched expectations.

Leiter remains one of the clearest examples of that disconnect.

Recently, there appeared to be reason for optimism.

After entering his May 31 outing against the Kansas City Royals carrying a 4.34 ERA, Leiter responded with one of the best starts of his career, throwing 5.2 scoreless innings while allowing only three hits and striking out 10 batters with just two walks.

That performance looked different.

Before that outing, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker explained through that Leiter’s next step was not velocity but learning how to truly pitch by changing speeds, sequencing, and finding different ways to generate outs, similar to the evolution Nathan Eovaldi made during his career.

For a moment, it looked like that lesson had clicked.

“Pitching is not just throwing it by guys like he was able to do, probably his whole college career, and a little bit in the Minors,” Schumaker said according to Kennedi Landry from MLB.com.

“[Nathan Eovaldi] has transitioned from that type of pitcher early in his career to like he pitches now. He knows how to pitch. He knows how to get guys out in different ways. It’s not just ‘I have 98 and here comes,’ although he has the ability to do that. … That’s Jack’s next step.”

Then came the follow-up.

Leiter struggled again against the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday, giving up four earned runs on six hits (two home runs) with two strikeouts and three walks in 4.2 innings.

The stat line alone was disappointing.

What made it more frustrating was how familiar it felt.

Instead of building off the Kansas City performance, Leiter again struggled to command counts and finish hitters efficiently.

That does not mean the earlier progress was meaningless.

He still averaged premium velocity and continues to show flashes of sequencing and pitch mix improvements.

But the challenge has never been whether Leiter can dominate for one night.

The challenge has always been proving he can repeat it.

Texas still has 97 games remaining and reinforcements returning from the Injured List.

The Rangers need more from their former top pick.

The question is no longer whether Leiter can look like the pitcher Texas drafted.

The question is whether he can become that pitcher consistently.

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