Mark Leiter Jr. on Pressure, Opportunity, and Joining the Athletics
MESA, Ariz. (Feb. 12) — It would be easy to tell the story of Mark Leiter Jr. story through the name on the back of his jersey. His father spent 11 seasons in the majors. His Uncle Al became a two‑time All‑Star and two-time World Series champion. Some of his best memories are of running around the now-departed Veterans Stadium as a kid, watching his dad work on that same mound. But Leiter is quick to downplay the mythology that comes with a baseball bloodline. “It’s more when you’re a kid,” he told Sport Relay of baseball expectations placed on the son of a major leaguer. “Once you get here, it doesn’t really mean anything. Nobody cares if you signed for $1,000 and someone else signed for $5 million. It’s a fun story more than anything.”
That practical view of the game carries over to how he thinks about pressure. From the outside, it’s tempting to circle the big markets and the bright lights — Chicago, New York in October, packed stadiums — and assume that’s where a reliever feels the most heat. Leiter doesn’t see it that way. “As a relief pitcher, in general, it doesn’t matter what your role is. You feel like your job’s on the line and feel like the game’s on the line,” he said. “To be playing a one‑nothing game in any city against any team, there’s pressure. There’s a built‑in pressure as the culture of being a reliever.” Now with the Athletics, Leiter is betting that the same mentality that carried him from those childhood days at the Vet to long‑relief marathons and high‑leverage spots can help him anchor a young relief unit that believes its time is coming.
Connecting the Dots: Family Ties around the League
This doesn’t mean that his family background is meaningless. It merely lives in a different lane. Leiter smiled big when asked about getting to play for the Philadelphia Phillies — the team that drafted him and a team for which his father pitched two seasons. “Getting to be a Phillie was full circle with what I grew up doing,” he said.
The connections extend beyond the ballpark itself. In clubhouses across the league, Leiter has occasionally found himself working with coaches or staffers who once worked with his dad or uncle. When asked for examples, he said there were too many to list. However, he added, “Having a lot of coaches or guys that were ex‑teammates with my dad or my uncle has always been a really cool thing, and watching their stories and stuff like that,” he said. “That’s always been something that I think is a really cool piece to the puzzle, connecting the dots with their careers.”
That’s where the family name really shows up — not as a shortcut in the present, but as a thread linking him to those days at the Vet. Once on the mound, all that matters is getting opponents out. In that sense, Leiter’s story isn’t about living up to a surname. It’s about carving out his own place in the baseball world.
The Real Shape of Pressure, according to Mark Leiter Jr.
Mark Leiter Jr. has pitched in Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York — three of the largest, highest-profile markets in North America. He understands why “pitching in New York” has the reputation of being the epitome of pitching under pressure. But when he talks about pressure, the conversation quickly shifts away from zip codes and toward something more universal: leverage, job security, and the thin line every reliever walks.
“As a relief pitcher, just in general, it doesn’t matter what your role is. You feel like your job’s on the line. You feel like the game’s on the line,” he said. “To be playing a one‑nothing game in any city against any team, there’s pressure. There’s a built‑in pressure as the culture of being a reliever.” In his world, the setting is almost incidental. The ball doesn’t care if it’s the Bronx or Kansas City, Tuesday night or a division race.
Where he does see a difference is in how clubs build and treat their bullpens. For a reliever whose livelihood depends on when and how he’s used, that matters as much as any backdrop. “The way everything is run, the way guys are used, and the way they’re respected or treated is what sets different teams apart. Those are the things that make differences between different teams,” he said.
Pressure Has No Zip Code
Leiter’s definition of pressure is tied to the moment, not the market. “It doesn’t matter what team you’re on. A run given up in leverage is a tie game,” he explained. “Doesn’t matter if it’s Opening Day, or if it’s in mid‑July, or it’s October, you don’t want to blow any leads.” When the margin is thin, every miss over the plate carries the same weight. “If you give up two runs when you’re up by seven, you’re okay with that. You move on till tomorrow. When it’s a one run game, you can’t.”
However, even the so‑called “low‑leverage” spots can be loaded with a different kind of tension. To a veteran with a guaranteed role, mop‑up duty is a breather. To a younger pitcher or a struggling pitcher, it might feel like a final exam. “A lot of times, what (some people) don’t understand is in a seven‑run game, whoever has that chance is also feeling pressure. Because he might be at a different point in his career,” Leiter said. “If this guy gives up a run, he might get sent down. So who’s to say that’s not better pressure?”
That’s the part fans don’t see on the broadcast. The score might say the game is out of reach, and the crowd might already be heading for the exits. But for the reliever jogging in from the bullpen — knowing one more outing where he allows runs could mean a roster move the next morning — the stakes are anything but low. To Leiter, that’s the real shape of pressure in his job. It’s not which city he’s in. Instead, it’s the constant awareness that every outing is another argument for or against him staying on the team.
The Hardest Pitching Job in Baseball: the Long Reliever’s Reality
Closers get the entrance music and, sometimes, the light shows. Setup men get the high‑leverage label. Long relievers, on the other hand, occupy the part of the relief corps hierarchy most fans barely think about. They come in when the starter exits early, when the score is lopsided, or when an ugly game staggers into the late innings. From the outside, it can look like the least glamorous job on a pitching staff. Leiter sees something very different.
“There’s an interview I did in Chicago that blew up,” he said, recalling a stretch when teammate Javier Assad was thriving in long relief. “He was pitching long relief, and he was pitching at around a (1.60 ERA) and doing some crazy stuff. And I said long guy’s the hardest job in the game, honestly.” There were people reaching out to challenge him. But for Leiter, that wasn’t hot‑take material — it was lived experience.
“He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball.”
Mark Leiter Jr. on Javier Assad. pic.twitter.com/7L7VL0qKju
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) August 5, 2023
Life As a Long Man
He laid out what the role demands. “You go nine days without pitching, then they ask you to go five innings,” he said. “And then two days later, they’ll ask you to come get an out or go one inning. And you probably have been a starter your whole life, and you’re learning it all.” The rhythm most pitchers depend on simply doesn’t exist in that job. One week you’re idle, the next you’re asked to be a bulk guy, and two days later you’re suddenly in a spot where one hitter can change the game.
From the couch, it’s easy to assume the closer’s job is always the toughest — ninth inning, save situation, game on the line. Leiter heard that pushback after his Chicago comments. “People were saying, ‘Oh, being a mop‑up guy is harder than being a closer? (With sarcasm) Okay.’ People were messaging me and stuff after it,” he said. “But I said, yeah, it is. He’s got no idea when he’s pitching. Closers — yes, it’s the toughest three outs, but you know when you’re pitching. You know your role.”
That uncertainty is the crux of it. Closers, when things are going right, can mentally circle the innings they’ll likely work. Long relievers live in the gaps — the blowouts, the short starts, or the weird nights when a game goes awry. They pitch when everyone else is spent and somebody has to get the game to its conclusion. In Leiter’s mind, that combination of physical demands, irregular usage, and invisible pressure is exactly why the “long guy” deserves more credit than the job usually gets.
Why Mark Leiter Jr. Chose the Athletics
For a veteran reliever like Leiter, picking his next stop isn’t about chasing a particular market. If pressure is going to exist everywhere anyway, what really matters is how a team runs its pitching staff — how roles are defined, whether their communications are honest, and how much respect a reliever feels from the decision-makers. When the Athletics reached out, those pieces lined up with what he was looking for.
“Opportunity,” he said when asked what attracted him to the club. “I like the style in which they go about stuff, the way they communicated some things.” Coming from someone who believes the differences between teams are in how they’re run and how pitchers are used, that’s not throwaway praise. It’s a window into why this fit made sense. Opportunity, for Leiter, isn’t merely innings — it’s the chance to take the ball in meaningful spots and to be part of a relief corps that’s still shaping its identity.
“Trending in the Right Direction”
The makeup of the roster was just as important. “It’s a younger team, so there’s a lot of room for excitement and trending in the right direction,” he said. Players around the league noticed what the Athletics did last season and where the team might be headed. “Across the league, a lot of guys saw the year they had last year and felt like their team is coming.”
For a pitcher who’s lived in every corner of the bullpen — long relief, leverage spots, and everything in between — that kind of situation holds appeal. “To be a part of something like that can be a lot of fun,” he said. “Hopefully we play a lot of winning baseball and capture some of that excitement of taking that next step. Hopefully (I can be) a big part of that in the bullpen. I’m excited for this opportunity.”
In a role where pressure never really goes away, the Athletics offer something else Leiter values: a chance to help a young group grow into a team that strikes fear in opponents.
A Veteran Voice for a Young Relief Unit
The story of Mark Leiter Jr. is not about inheriting a legacy. Instead, it’s about navigating a profession that rarely stops to admire one. The last name and the childhood memories at the Vet are part of the backdrop, but they don’t buy him any margin for error when he enters a game. The standard is the same as it is for every other reliever trying to hang on: get outs, adapt to whatever role is needed, and do it often enough that the manager keeps handing you the ball.
That mindset helps explain why he talks about pressure the way he does. It isn’t only the ninth inning or the biggest market on the map. No, it’s also the quiet nights in seven‑run games where a struggling reliever knows one more bad inning might get him optioned or designated for assignment. It’s the long stretches between appearances followed by a five‑inning emergency, or the sudden call to get one big out with no rhythm to lean on. For Leiter, those invisible pressures — usage, job security, the way teams treat their relievers — define the job as much as any save opportunity ever could.
With the Athletics, he sees a place where all of those threads can come together. A younger roster, a staff still taking shape, an organization he believes is “trending in the right direction” and “coming” — and a relief unit where someone who has lived every version of the reliever’s life can matter beyond his stat line. The name on the back of the jersey may be familiar, but the story he’s writing now is his own: a veteran reliever trying to turn years of hard‑earned experience into stability for himself and a foundation for a team that sees a bright future.
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Main Photo Credits:
MESA, Ariz. (Feb. 12) — Athletics pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. (left) hustles to cover first in pitcher fielding practice during spring training at Hohokam Stadium. (Photo by Evan Thompson/Sport Relay)
