Rangers right-hander Jack Leiter had been working back from the arthroscopic ankle surgery he underwent in late June, but a potential return is now on hold. The Rangers are temporarily shutting Leiter down as a result of biceps soreness, per Zach Sweat of MLB.com. Manager Skip Schumaker said the Rangers will “reevaluate what that looks like in the next couple of days.”
The hard-throwing Leiter hasn’t taken the mound for the Rangers since June 18, when he yielded six earned runs over four innings in a 9-3 loss to the Twins. It was the third straight rough start for the 26-year-old, who has recorded a bloated 5.29 ERA across 15 starts and 80 innings in 2026. Leiter put up a much better 3.86 mark in 29 starts and 152 2/3 frames in 2025, the former second overall pick’s first full season.
Fielding-independent metrics like SIERA (4.21), xFIP (4.24), FIP (4.75) and xERA (4.83) each suggest positive regression is on the way for Leiter if he returns this year. Whether he does will depend on the severity of his latest injury.
Leiter’s biceps discomfort cropped up during a one-inning rehab appearance with Triple-A Round Rock on Wednesday, Schumaker revealed. The issue figures to decrease the odds of Leiter rejoining the Rangers’ rotation in September, and it comes at a time when they were already considering using him as a reliever. When discussing Leiter earlier this week, Schumaker said that “there is a 50-50 chance that he’s going to be out of the bullpen,” per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
On Aug. 9, several weeks after Leiter underwent surgery, the Rangers sent fellow starter Nathan Eovaldi to the IL with elbow inflammation. Eovaldi remains out, leaving the Rangers with a rotation of Jacob deGrom, MacKenzie Gore, Cody Bradford, Cal Quantrill and Kumar Rocker. The 38-year-old deGrom, who has had a couple of blowups over the past several weeks, has seen his ERA climb from 3.48 to 4.21 since the beginning of July. Gore (4.40) and Rocker (4.41) have been slightly worse at keeping runs off the board, though Bradford and Quantrill have been effective in that department.
Bradford, who missed all of last year with elbow problems and made his 2026 debut on Aug. 5, entered Friday with a stingy 3.05 ERA over a limited sample of 20 2/3 innings. Quantrill has only made 10 starts in 27 appearances, but the 31-year-old journeyman has delivered shockingly strong results. After combining for 13 shutout innings in his two most recent starts (wins against the Nationals and Angels), he owns a 2.90 ERA through 83 2/3 frames. Quantrill brings below-average velocity to the table and has struck out just 17.3% of hitters, but his contributions have helped the Rangers stay in the AL West race. Despite a lackluster 66-68 record, they are just one game behind the division-leading Astros.
Photo courtesy of Eric Canha, Imagn Images
