Phillies pitcher Mark Leiter: From farm fodder to potential 2018 starter

Mark Leiter, Jr. started off this season as a filler arm in Triple-A before eventually emerging as a potential piece of the Phillies 2018 rotation.

Mark Leiter, Jr. was the first Phillies pitcher we saw this year, starting the team’s exhibition game with the University of Tampa to kick off the spring training schedule. No one really ever put much stock into the 26-year-old after being drafted in the 22nd round of the 2013 draft. He was never on a top prospect list nor invited to spring training. However, he is finally starting to put his name on the map this year.

Leiter was called up to the majors early on to help relieve what was a heavily-taxed bullpen. As a starter, he had the durability to throw multiple innings of relief, so several of his relief appearances went beyond just one inning.

In fact, Leiter has shown he can throw a starter’s workload from the bullpen after early exits from starting pitchers. Aug. 5 against the Rockies, Leiter threw 4.1 scoreless innings of relief after Nick Pivetta surrendered eight runs before the third inning even ended. Five days later against the Mets Leiter pitched five one-run innings after Vince Velasquez exited with a finger injury.