Texas Rangers Sign Top Pick Jack Leiter

The Texas Rangers have agreed to terms with their top 2021 draft pick Jack Leiter.

SI Editorial | Jul 28, 2021

ARLINGTON, Texas — In a week that may come with a bit of somber news with the trade deadline just over 48 hours away, there is at least some good news coming out of Arlington.

The Texas Rangers have agreed to terms with 2021 first-round pick Jack Leiter. ESPN's Jeff Passan reports that Leiter's agreement is for more than $7.9 million, which is over his slot value of $7,789,900.

That's the highest figure for a pitcher since draft rules changed a decade ago, and just short of the $8 million Gerrit Cole received in 2011.

The Rangers had until 4 pm CT on Sunday to reach an agreement with its top two picks. Leiter is done, and second-round pick Aaron Zavala is reportedly in town, but no agreement has been reported.

Leiter was a top target for the Rangers, who had the second overall pick in this year's MLB Draft. The right-handed pitcher from Vanderbilt has a strong baseball family pedigree. He is the son of former major league pitcher Al Leiter, who played in the majors from 1987-2005 for five different teams, played in two All-Star games, and won three World Series titles.

To this point, the Rangers have officially signed seven of their first 10 selections from the 2021 MLB Draft, spending $2,685,000 of their $12,641,000 bonus pool to do so.

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Published Jul 28, 2021

SI EDITORIAL