Good news for Ranger fans. It was reported by Levi Weaver that the Rangers have reached an agreement with their 1st round pick, Jack Leiter.
As you can see by the Levi’s tweet, they’ve also reached an agreement with their 2nd round pick Aaron Zavala.
This news is exciting for fans especially on the heels on the Rangers prior 12-game losing streak.
It has been reported that Leiter’s bonus is for $7.9 million which is just shy of the record set by Gerrit Cole’s $8 Million bonus with the Pirates in 2011.
I’m curious to see where Leiter is assigned this season, since he’s already pitched 110 innings. He could go to the Arizona Complex League and throw a couple of games there and promote to Down East and throw a couple of games there. Or another option is that he doesn’t pitch at all. We will see.
**update**
The Texas Rangers held a press conference announcing their signing of their # 1 pick, Jack Leiter.
During the press conference, I believe it was Levi Weaver that asked GM Chris Young about the plan for Leiter. They don’t plan on Leited pitching with any of the affiliates this year. He’s expected to go back to Vanderbilt this fall to finish his degree.
According to Evan Grant, the official bonus number is $7.922 million with the 22 being special as it was Leiter’s fathers number for a significant portion of his career and of course his number at Vandy. That is some creative thinking from the Rangers part.
This is a developing story.
