Game 2: Red Sox at Rangers

Tanner Houck debuts after an All-Star campaign.

There is an alternate reality out there where Jack Leiter is pitching for the Red Sox tonight. Leiter, you recall, was a college phenom back in 2021. He and his Vanderbilt teammate, Kumar Rocker, were probably the biggest names college baseball had seen since Stephen Strasburg’s days at San Diego State.

The Red Sox held the fourth pick in that summer’s MLB Draft but Leiter didn’t quite make it to them, as the Rangers grabbed him at number two. One pick later Jackson Jobe went to the Tigers. And with the Pirates having made Henry Davis the surprising number one pick overall, that meant that Marcelo Mayer — the near-consenus best prospect in the draft — fell to the Sox.

It’s been a rough journey for Leiter since then. He put up an ERA over 5 at AA during his first season as a pro. He wasn’t much better the next year, but the Rangers promoted him anyway, figuring he was either going to sink or swim. And last year he found some modest success at AAA, finally earning a promotion to the bigs (where, quelle surprise, he’s also struggled).

It would have made for some mighty fine narrative ball if Marcelo Mayer was in the Sox starting lineup tonight, but maybe we’ll get that later in the season.

First pitch is at 8:05 and the game is on NESN.