At the trade deadline, the New York Yankees made a deal with the Chicago Cubs to acquire a right-handed reliever Mark Leiter Jr. A deal that was supposed to provide the team with a high-leverage weapon, but ultimately blew up in their faces when Leiter Jr. posted a 4.98 ERA and 2.49 HR/9 with the Bronx Bombers. He was left off the postseason roster in the ALDS and ALCS, only joining the team to replace the injured Ian Hamilton after a crushing Game 3 loss. Postseason rules make a player ineligible for injury recovery for that round and the subsequent round, meaning Hamilton had no chance to return.

After several big performances in the ALCS, he turned in another pivotal performance in Game 4 of the World Series with the Yankees on the brink of elimination, and he has come out of nowhere to become one of Aaron Boone’s top weapons .

Mark Leiter Jr. will perform for the Yankees in October

No Yankees fan would recommend Mark Leiter Jr. confidence in a postseason setting after the regular season, and yet he is one of their top weapons. Although his walk speed is higher, his strategy on the mound has allowed him to avoid giving into batters and pick his spots to get after them, getting some big strikeouts and some soft contact in situations with high leverage. After throwing 30% sinkers and struggling to get that pitch through hitters, he relied heavily on his secondary stuff to avoid damage contact.

His sinker usage is down to 9.9% and his curveball usage has nearly doubled to 32.1%, with him racking up a 50% Whiff% and also getting a lot of called strikes. The pitch that has been the most reliable for Mark Leiter Jr. was the splitter, holding hitters to a wOBA of .069 with an exit velocity of 74.1 MPH. His quality of contact numbers has improved dramatically as a result of throwing his sinker less, and it has allowed the Yankees to bring him in as a way to stop the opposing offense and give their lineup a chance to get back hit.

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While more walks have resulted in more traffic, a runner in first place is better than a ball in the stands. He suppresses damage contact like people expected him to when he first burst onto the scene, and while there is still work to be done to earn a spot within the Yankees’ circle of trust, Mark Leiter Jr. certainly improved from his he stood as a garbage reliever who gave up a home run every time he took the mound.

Confidence is an important part of being a successful reliever; Whether it’s trusting your best pitch or simply having the mentality that you can and will succeed, there’s a sense of calm and conviction in his pitches that didn’t exist before. Although Shohei Ohtani is limited by a shoulder injury, the ability to get him out of the offense likely turned the tide of the game last night. Had the Dodgers continued to rally in that inning, they might have gone to their A-tier arms and eliminated the Yankees for good.

Instead, Mark Leiter Jr. trusted. on his best pitch, got a huge strikeout, and now the Yankees can fight again tonight. It is very unlikely that they will win the next three games and win the World Series, but you have to win one to be able to make a comeback. No team has ever forced a Game 6 in the World Series when trailing 3-0, but perhaps this series is in Los Angeles again, and Mark Leiter Jr. there would be a big reason for that.