Thunder and lightning.
Those were the nicknames Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter gave one another during their two seasons together at Vanderbilt.
The first year was abbreviated by COVID-19. But the second season, 2021, was historic, as Rocker and Leiter went a combined 25-8 and co-led the NCAA with 179 strikeouts apiece.
Thunder: Kumar.
Lightning: Leiter.
It was widely expected that both would be top-10 picks in the 2021 draft, ending Thunder and Lightning’s Duo Act, but the unfathomable happened and both are Texas Rangers.
“I’m incredibly excited,” said Rocker, the Rangers’ No. 3 overall pick of last month’s draft of again teaming with No. 2 overall 2021 pick Leiter. “He’s an incredible resource, a guy who brings a pro aspect to the game, on and off the field.
“He’s got a lot of knowledge up there. And I’m excited to have the chemistry again with him in the rotation, whatever it may be, but win ballgames of course, too.”
It’s difficult at best to project when the 22-year-old righthanders, both of whom are sons of former pro athletes, might earn their way to the Rangers’ rotation.
Leiter is 3-8 with a 5.80 ERA this season at Double-A Frisco. Rangers general manager Chris Young said Rocker will not pitch during the final two months of this minor league season.
More likely, Leiter and Rocker will be minor league teammates well before they pair up in Arlington, but it’s OK and normal for Rangers fans to start dreaming, isn’t it?
It’s a salivating thought: A dynamic pair of potential aces who already have demonstrated that they like, respect and work well together.
No one is more qualified to explain why Leiter and Kumar are such a potent tandem than their coach at Vanderbilt, Tim Corbin.
“Because they’re so different and they weren’t competing against each other,” Corbin told The Dallas Morning News. “They were competing for the team, so it never became a Kumar vs. Jack or Jack vs. Kumar. They just celebrated team so much.”
If anything, Corbin said, Leiter and Rocker pushed one another. When one excelled, it inspired the other to do so.
For a typical SEC three-game series, Rocker would pitch on Friday and Leiter on Saturday. Corbin said it helped Leiter that Rocker already had played one college season when Leiter arrived in 2020.
Well, played is an understatement. All Rocker did as a freshman in 2019 was go 12-5; earn NCAA Freshman of the Year honors; strike out 19 Duke batters while throwing the first no-hitter in Super Regional history; and go 2-0 in the College World Series as Vanderbilt won the title and Rocker was named Most Outstanding Player.
“I thought Kumar was a good modeler for Jack in so many ways,” Corbin said. “But they’re uniquely different. And that’s great. You don’t want your kids ever to be homogenized to where they’re doing the same things.
“But their routines and how they get themselves ready are similar. They’re both driven. They’re both on task. But they both uniquely did things a little different, and that was kind of the nice part of it. It’s blending personalities and unique skill sets into a team, and they did that very well.
“And they did it with great harmony.”
Probably the most harmonious Commodores duo since Lionel Richie and Walter Orange alternated as lead singers in the 1970s and ‘80s.
After the Rangers drafted Rocker, naturally one of his first to reach out to him was Leiter, who according to Rocker had “nothing but great things to say about the Rangers.”
They’ll have plenty of time to compare notes in the months and years to come, but the good news for the Rangers organization is this re-pairing, whenever and wherever it happens, will happen naturally.
Like Thunder and Lightning.
