From Vandy to the bigs, Rocker and Leiter's bond remains

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

When asked about his favorite Kumar Rocker performance, Jack Leiter simply laughed.

"I mean, well, the easy answer is the one I wasn't there for, I was watching on my couch in high school, and that was cool," Leiter said.

Leiter was obviously referencing Rocker’s 19-strikeout no-hitter in the 2019 Super Regional, when Vanderbilt downed Duke en route to the College World Series title.

"But one that I was there for, the East Carolina Super Regional game,” Leiter said. “Gavin Williams was pitching for them, Game 1, and Rock did what Rock does, and it was fun to watch. Basically, every time he went out there, it was must-see TV, at least from my point of view.”

It wasn’t quite a no-hitter, but on that day two years later in 2021, Rocker tossed 7 2/3 scoreless innings against East Carolina, carrying Vanderbilt to a 2-0 win. That season didn’t end in confetti for Rocker and Leiter, as the Commodores lost to Mississippi State in the College World Series final. But the two still stood as one of the best rotation duos in college baseball history.

Every young baseball player dreams of making it to the big leagues, a statistically improbable feat. Most also dream of making it there with a buddy, side by side, which is obviously even more improbable.

Leiter and Rocker obviously had big league aspirations after spearheading the best rotation in college baseball in 2021 at Vanderbilt. They couldn’t have imagined they would be in the same rotation again just three years later. This time, it was for the Texas Rangers.

"It's really cool,” Rocker said ahead of making his MLB debut against the Mariners on Sept. 12. "I'm not sure if it's been done before. I had a coach come up to me yesterday, and I don't know if college students are pitching the same rotation this early in their career. It's gonna be really fun. It’s familiar. Familiarity is awesome.”

Leiter -- now the Rangers’ No. 4 prospect, per MLB Pipeline -- was selected No. 2 overall by the Rangers in the 2021 MLB Draft. Rocker was initially drafted 10th overall by the Mets that same year but didn't sign after New York didn’t sign him due to medical concerns.

Rocker -- now the Rangers' No. 2 prospect, per MLB Pipeline -- went on to sign with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the independent Frontier League to prepare for the 2022 Draft, when Texas selected him at No. 3 overall, reuniting the former co-aces in the Texas farm system.

"He's awesome,” Leiter said in Arizona this week. “Once you get to know him, he's like a big teddy bear. He's a great guy, and he works hard and he's fun to watch. … It's crazy. If you told us we were in this position 12 months, two years, three years ago, on the same team, in the same clubhouse, I don't think we would have believed it."

While Leiter spent two years with Double-A Frisco in 2022-23 -- and it wasn’t without some bumps in the road -- Rocker dominated High-A hitters to begin his professional career in 2023. He posted a 3.86 ERA with 42 strikeouts and just seven walks across his first six starts before undergoing Tommy John surgery May 16.

But he came back better than ever.

Rocker returned to the mound on July 5, posting a 1.96 ERA over 10 games between the Arizona Complex League, Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock. He struck out eight across five innings of two-run ball in his last start for Round Rock before receiving the callup.

Leiter, for what it’s worth, isn’t even shocked.

"Every healthy season Rock’s had since probably sophomore year of high school, has been dominant,” Leiter said. “There's never really a doubt with him. It's just fun to watch. It really is. He's never not been dominant, in my mind. He looks like the best version of himself that we've ever seen. So it's exciting, again. It really is."

The two have clearly had different paths and varying levels of success and failure to get to where they both are now. But no matter what happened before this, they’re both here now -- and it’s better that they’re together.

"We leaned on each other a lot [in college],” Leiter said. “I think you feed off of each other in terms of watching each other, how you go about your business, the work you put in on a day-to-day basis, and then how you compete. It's fun to watch your friend, who you know works hard, go out and compete.

"I think it's kind of an unspoken thing that he knows that I'll always be there, and vice versa. Throughout the process, obviously, everyone's got their own different path. It's fun to talk through that. … We've still got a job to do. It's business-like, but you have to step back every once in a while and just appreciate how awesome it is.”