Schoolmates Volpe, Leiter reunite on MiLB podcast

You may have heard Anthony Volpe and Jack Leiter know each other a little bit.

Before they were each first-round picks (Volpe to the Yankees in 2019, Leiter to the Rangers in 2021), before they were each members of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 overall prospect ranking, they were teammates at the Delbarton School in Morristown, N.J. Soon, the two might share another title -- fellow Major Leaguers.

Volpe finished out his age-21 season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and with his strong mix of five tools, many in the game expect to be New York’s starting shortstop as early as next summer. Leiter jumped from Vanderbilt straight to Double-A Frisco, and while his numbers were by his own admission rough (5.54 ERA in 22 starts), he still has a promising four-pitch mix that could make him a future top-of-the-rotation option in Arlington.

The pair of Nationwide Road to the Show ambassadors reunited on this week’s edition of the Minor League Baseball podcast The Show Before the Show with hosts Tyler Maun and Sam Dykstra. A transcript snippet of that conversation follows below:

TSBTS: At some point, we’re going to see you guys squaring off with each other at a big league ballpark. Jack, if you’re facing Anthony, what is the scouting report on how to attack him? And Anthony, how do you go about facing Jack?

Leiter: I think with a hitter like Anthony, with how talented he is and how quickly he can make adjustments, I don't really think there is a set scouting report. I think it depends on not just the week, not just the game, but the at-bat. I think he can make at-bat to at-bat adjustments, so it really is tough to pencil in one thing, like slider down and away because I've seen him hit sliders down and away. Fastballs, I've seen him turn on those. I really think it's just mixing up your pitches, being unpredictable and trying to keep him off-balance because that's the best you can do with a hitter like that.

Volpe: It's tough. Everyone always asks me, but I always say that I think Jack's the best pitcher I’ve faced. Part of that goes to [that] we have probably close to over 100 at-bats against each other. That might be a little much, but every time I’ve faced him, It feels like he always gets better.

So for me, I think he has probably the most electric fastball I've ever faced, so [you’re] trying to get ready for that and then I think his curveball is probably the same thing, one of the best. So for a hitter, that's tough. Two plus-plus pitches are really tough to cover. I always say I try to not miss the fastball against him and I always have to make a couple adjustments to get to his, compared to even an above-average fastball.

To have those two plus-plus pitches -- and I know he's always working on other stuff -- is super tough to handle as a hitter.

TSBTS: What is your reaction going to be like in that moment do you think, when you do see each other in the Majors for the first time?

Volpe: In the moment I don't necessarily know if I’d do anything. I know I'm pretty … not blacked out, but I don't really know what I do during the games. I can't really even hear fans or stuff like that. I don't know if there'll be any on-field stuff. After the game, it would obviously be amazing, but I don't really know if I can even predict or say what I would do because I don't really know.

Leiter: Honestly, I think, at younger ages, that is a funny thing when you face a really good friend. But throughout this year, I got to face some Vanderbilt guys. I faced Austin Martin a bunch of times, one of my teammates my freshman year at Vanderbilt. It just feels, if anything, more natural because you’ve faced them before.

Something like me facing Ohtani or Trout, those guys just seem like different levels of human beings because of how well they've done when I was in high school and younger ages. But the fact that, like Anthony said, we have a lot of at-bats against each other, I think it's just another thing. It’s competing. We get competitive if we're playing horse in our school gymnasium. So I think in the moment it's just a competitive thing, obviously. He wants to hit a ball hard, and I want to get him out. After the game, I think it would be really special and probably before the game too, it'd be awesome.

For more of this conversation, download and listen to The Show Before the Show wherever you get your podcasts.