LOS ANGELES — Mark Leiter Jr.’s journey certainly took a winding path to the mound Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
Leiter’s evolution from a 22nd-round pick who made 11 starts his rookie year on a 96-loss rebuilding Philadelphia Phillies team to a high-leverage reliever for a Chicago Cubs team eying a postseason appearance — with Tommy John surgery and a pandemic-prolonged rehab process in between — is a testament to the right-hander’s perseverance and adaptability.
Leiter hasn’t allowed a run through seven appearances, looking dominant in the process. Entering Monday’s series in Oakland, Leiter has’s struck out 12 of the 26 batters he’s faced this season. His splitter is a nightmare pitch for left-handed hitters, who are 2-for-18 against him, and nine of the lefty’s 10 strikeouts are from it.
Leiter again shined in a big spot during Sunday’s 3-2 win. He entered the seventh inning with runners on first and second base as the Cubs held onto a one-run lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Leiter struck out Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy, the latter with the bases loaded following an infield single, to end the inning.
“There’s something about those guys that are former starters that can handle some moments,” manager David Ross said. “There’s no situation that’s going to come up that they hadn’t been in already in their career. To do it on this stage is obviously a little bit different. He’s trusted his stuff and the plan building off last year and hit the ground running.”
A fired up Leiter strode off the mound after shutting down the Dodgers.
“’Leit Show’ is great — he’s got that energy, that fight in him when he’s on the mound,” third baseman Patrick Wisdom said. “It’s a lot of fun to play behind him.”
Six weeks ago, Leiter was not assured a spot in the Cubs bullpen out of spring training. He went unclaimed when they designated him for assignment in January.
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“Every year I had to come in and win jobs, so whether I was on the roster, off the roster, guaranteed deal, non-guaranteed deal, my journey has put me in a position to be ready to go and compete as soon as you come in,” Leiter said recently to the Tribune.
“It’s just a mentality, like, you’re always proving yourself no matter what. That’s why I kind of laugh at some of the stuff that’s like, oh, you were competing (for a job). Well, you should be competing at all times.”
Leiter could have opted for a route back to the majors on a minor-league deal with another organization after clearing waivers. Instead, an undeniable appeal to remain with a Cubs front office and pitching infrastructure that helped him take the next step in his career and produce his best career numbers in 2022 made the Chicago where Leiter wanted to be.
“Getting the opportunity to settle into a consistent role last year, it was exciting to get the build off that this winter and really have a direction coming in,” Leiter said. “This was the recipe for success and these are the couple things that you can improve on or you can add or enhance.”
Bullpen coach Chris Young served as the Phillies assistant pitching coach in 2018 during Leiter’s final big-league season there. The lack of a clear role and schedule created some uncertainty at that time about the type of pitcher Leiter could become.
There are no doubts now how good he can be out of the bullpen, especially against lefties.
“He’s got that chip on the shoulder that you respect,” Young told the Tribune. “That’s just always driven him to prove everybody wrong and he’s done it. You put those two things together, and we get a chance to see what that version looked like last year and he brought it right back.”
