Vanderbilt’s Jack Leiter might be the best college baseball player in the 2021 MLB Draft class.
Leiter is the son of former MLB pitcher Al Leiter. He’s expected to be the first pitcher off the board in the 2021 MLB Draft, and came within one game of winning the College World Series with Vanderbilt and fellow Commodore pitcher and draft prospect Kumar Rocker.
If Leiter isn’t selected by the Texas Rangers at No. 2 (as we have mocked), then he won’t fall further than the Boston Red Sox at No. 4, who are reportedly enamored with the idea of having a top pitching prospect. The Red Sox would pay over slot value for Leiter.
2021 MLB Draft: Who is Jack Leiter?
This is MLB.com’s profile of Leiter:
Leiter usually works at 90-95 mph and tops out at 97 with his fastball, which plays like an elite pitch because of its riding life and outstanding metrics, such as its induced vertical break. He gets an exceptional amount of swings and misses in the strike zone with his heater. He also has a 12-to-6 curveball in the upper 70s that he can both land for strikes or get hitters to chase, and his feel for spin also translates into a low-80s slider that some evaluators think has more upside than his curve.
Leiter should go in the top-5, with Rocker not far behind him come Sunday.