Long wait, short ride to majors for Leiter Jr.
NEW YORK >> There were the afternoons in Veterans Stadium, when he was shagging balls in the outfield, just a kid wondering when it would be his turn.
There were the nights in the seats, watching his father pitch for the Phillies.
There was the high school career in South and there was the mild disappointment that came when so many college coaches lobbed meager offers his way. There was the 2013 draft, and the long, long wait to be selected in the 22nd round.
There were the five seasons in the minors, in Clearwater, at Lakewood, back to Clearwater, up again, through Reading, into Lehigh Valley and, the other night, into a conversation with his manager, Dusty Wathan. There was all of that. So, Mark Leiter Jr. figured, what was another 40 minutes, then a frenzied drive to CitiField? Jersey,
“They told me I was to the Phillies,” he said. “And they said to be ready in 40 minutes. That was it. That’s when the car would pick me up. My wife, Megan, brought me some clothes for a couple of days. I don’t have much with me, but I have enough.”
Baseball is full of stories of struggle, of players wiggling through the minors and earning a chance, of one-shot auditions, some successful, most fizzled. But there was irony in the frantic 40 minutes and the two-hour ride that followed as Leiter was finally rushed to the big-leagues. That’s because, as the son of former Phil Mark Leiter Sr. and the nephew of bigleague pitcher Al Leiter, the younger Leiter had 26 years to plan for his ultimately rush entry into the family profession.
“Honestly, when it started setting in I was in the car and I started seeing the city,” Leiter said. “I was like, ‘All right, this is happening.’ It was pretty cool.”
It might not have happened had not Howie Kendrick going suffered an abdominal injury and landed on the 10-day disabled list, opening a job. But it did. And it didn’t take long for the word to spread. Almost immediately, Leiter’s friends from Lonoka Harbor, N.J., near Toms River, were shouting “Road trip,” and were in their cars for the 90-minute drive to Queens. Uncle Al, across town at Yankee Stadium providing commentary on the MLB network, was texting congratulations. And Dad, who pitched for the Phils in 1997 and 1998 in the midst of a an eightteam big-league career?
“I called him and he didn’t answer at first,” Mark Jr. said. “He was taking a walk in the woods. There are trails out there, and he doesn’t get reception. I wasn’t able to get through for 10 minutes. I called pretty much everyone else before him. Once I told him, he didn’t believe me. He thought I was messing with him. It was good.”
Leiter has had five seasons in the Phillies’ system, going 27-22 in the minors, mostly as a starter. But for the Phillies, he would be a relief pitcher, which explains the carryon Tuesday whenever there was activity in their bullpen.
“My buddies had all bought seats in the bleachers,” Leiter said. “So every time somebody got up, they’d all stand and lean over, trying to see, thinking, ‘Is that him?’”
Leiter was something of a star at Toms River North High, and once remembers a postseason seeding, his team and Mike Trout’s being ranked one-two, in one order or another. And he remembers being disappointed that they wouldn’t meet in the tournament. Yet never known for his overpowering fastball, Leiter was lightly recruited, finally settling in at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The Phils, the team he’d followed as a kid and enjoyed watching during the 2007to-2011 N.L. East dynasty, grabbed him in that 22nd round. By Tuesday, he’d completed just the second father-son combo in Phillies history, the Leiters joining the Amaros, Ruben Sr. and Jr.
“I caught my first fly ball at the Vet,” Leiter said, proudly. “I was in the locker room and shagging B.P. with my dad and stuff like that. I got to be there quite a bit. I probably should have gone more than I did, but I was young and probably didn’t grasp how cool it was at the moment.”
By the time he hit CitiField, he felt that way again, even if he wasn’t immediately recognized at the players’ entrance. Maybe it was all that experience around big-league players and knowing how they act. But the CitiField gate attendant did buy his story.
So another Leiter was the majors. Finally.
“My dad and I have in talked about this a lot,” Leiter said. “I think he’s just extremely happy for me to get to experience it for myself, being that he’s already lived it and done a lot of it. He’s extremely proud, I think. I was excited to be able to share it with him, and my wife and my mother.”
It was 26 years crammed into less three hours.
“It was really surreal,” Mark Leiter Jr. said. “It’s still crazy.” than