An 11-14 showing in August has slammed the door shut on the Rangers playoff chances. The defending World Series winners will spend the seasons final month evaluating their plans for 2025. To that end, writes that Texas intends to give former #2 overall pick regular rotation run for the rest of the year. Leiter made his first three big league starts between April and the middle of May. The Rangers optioned him to Triple-A Round Rock on May 15 and had kept him in the minors until this week. Texas brought Leiter up as the 27th man for the second game of Wednesdays doubleheader against the White Sox. He to sed four innings, allowing three runs on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts. In a procedural move, Texas rea signed Leiter back to Round Rock after the game. Pitchers normally need to wait 15 days after being optioned before they can be recalled to the big leagues. That does not apply to players who were temporarily added to the roster for a doubleheader. The Rangers can recall Leiter at any time and Grant reports that theyll keep him in the big league rotation. His next turn wont come until early next week, at which point teams will be allowed to carry a 14th pitcher on the active roster with the September expansion. Leiters profe sional career has not played out as smoothly as the Rangers envisioned when they drafted him in 2021. The Vanderbilt product has struggled to throw strikes consistently. He walked upwards of 13% of opponents at Double-A in each of his first two full seasons. Leiter has scaled back the free pa ses to some extent this year, i suing walks at a 10.6% clip with Round Rock. While hes unlikely to ever have pinpoint command, Leiter still has intriguing stuff. He has punched out a third of opposing hitters over 17 Triple-A starts this year. He owns a 3.51 earned run average acro s Jeff Nogaj Jersey 77 innings with Round Rock, an impre sive mark in the Pacific Coast League. The 61 righty hasnt gotten beyond four innings in any of his first four big league starts. He has allowed 22 runs (19 earned) over 13 1/3 MLB innings. Leiter clearly isnt a finished product. Its neverthele s sensible for the Rangers to give him a few chances to try to find his form against big league hitters. He has logged 254 2/3 minor league frames, all of them at Double-A or above. Hes 24 years old and already occupies a 40-man roster spot. Texas is wrapping up a lost season and will go into the offseason with a lot questions about the rotation. and will be free agents. Its likely that is also headed to the market. Eovaldi needs to pitch 23 more innings to unlock a $20MM player option. Even if he hits the vesting threshold, he could decline the option in search of another multi-year free agent deal. Thatd leave Texas with a rotation core of , and . deGrom and Mahle could be on innings limits after returning from 2023 Tommy John procedures. Gray has been on the injured list twice this year due to groin strains. He has a 4.32 ERA over 98 innings. has an ERA north of 5.00 and has been in and out of the rotation. has been limited to nine appearances this year by a rib fracture. Scherzer, Mahle and deGrom are all currently on the injured list. GM Chris Young and his staff will undoubtedly add to the group over the winter (likely with at least two outside pickups). Theyll need some kind of emergence from their younger starting pitchers to supplement that expensive veteran group. That has not been a strength for the organization. Former notable prospects and remain on the 40-man roster. Neither has become a key contributor. Winn posted an ERA above 7.00 in Triple-A last season and has moved fully to relief. As Grant observes, the Rangers also converted the 25-year-old White to the bullpen in Triple-A this month. White has had better results since moving to relief but still carries a 5.51 ERA over 94 2/3 total frames. Its not out of the question that Leiters command could eventually push him to the pen as well. Thats not currently on the table, though, and the Rangers will give him his first real opportunity against MLB opposition next month. That probably wont be enough runway to guarantee a spot in the Opening Day starting five, but a strong showing could give him a chance to battle for a rotation job in Spring Training. Leiters college teammate has returned from Tommy John surgery and has begun mowing down upper minors hitters. The #3 overall pick of the 2022 draft fired 19 2/3 innings of one-run ball in five Double-A appearances. He to sed five scorele s innings with 10 strikeouts in his Triple-A debut last night. Rocker presumably wont be in line for a big league call this year, as doing so would require carrying him on the 40-man roster all offseason. He could put himself on the radar for a promotion early in the 25 campaign if he keeps on anything close to his current trajectory. Billy Bowman Jersey