Inside Leiter Jr.'s whirlwind first day with Yanks

This story was excerpted from Bryan Hoch's Yankees Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- It is difficult to conjure a more unique scenario in which to make your Yankees debut than the events that preceded Mark Leiter Jr.’s first pitches for the club this past week, and it is certainly an experience that the veteran right-hander will never forget.

“It all happened so fast that I didn’t really have a chance to think about much of it,” Leiter said. “No matter how many years you play, that might only happen one time in your career.”

Acquired from the Cubs on Tuesday just ahead of the Trade Deadline, Leiter said goodbye to his teammates and hustled to make a flight from Cincinnati to Philadelphia, where the Yankees were playing the middle game of a three-game series with the Phillies.

Arriving at Citizens Bank Park during the second inning of the game, Leiter dressed quickly in the visitors' clubhouse and bounced through the dugout, where he exchanged greetings with manager Aaron Boone and others before making his way to the bullpen in the top of the fourth.

“Everyone was laughing when they see me, like, ‘Hey, you’re here already?’” Leiter said.

The game went to extra innings when closer Clay Holmes coughed up a one-run lead in the ninth, and Boone summoned Leiter to pitch the 10th in a tied game. Not only had Leiter never worked with catcher Austin Wells, but they had yet to meet at that point.

On the bench, Wells had asked Boone: “What’s this guy throw?” Leiter, it should be mentioned, features one of the game’s best splitters -- opponents are just 5-for-66 (.076) against it this year.

That day, Leiter tossed a zero, keeping the game scoreless as the Yankees went on to win, 7-6, in 12 innings.

“Guys were throwing the ball back and making plays behind me, and I hadn’t even introduced myself yet,” Leiter said. “It was right into the fire, which is fine. That’s what I’m here to do. Just go out there and do your job, pitch, get some outs.”

He was so fresh to the scene that when his PitchCom device relayed a code word for a pickoff, Leiter admitted he had no idea what it meant.

“He’s like, ‘What the heck does that mean?’” Boone said. “We had nothing. You’re having a guy out there at the biggest moment of the game at that point, introducing himself to people, not knowing what’s going on in his ear and getting out of a big jam.”

Leiter has grown more comfortable over the past several days, including picking up his first Yankees win in the club’s 4-3 victory in 10 innings over the Blue Jays on Sunday. Once the Yanks left Philadelphia, bussing up the New Jersey Turnpike to the Bronx, Leiter said he spent about an hour exploring Yankee Stadium.

“It’s a beautiful place,” Leiter said. “I pitched here once before in 2018 [for the Blue Jays]. I got my first ever hold.”

Pitching for the Yankees, of course, is part of the family business. Leiter’s father, Mark Leiter Sr., made his Major League debut with the Yankees on July 24, 1990, before going on to pitch for seven other franchises over his 11-year career. His uncle, Al Leiter, had two stints with the Bombers (1987-89, 2005) and also worked for the YES Network after his playing days.

“It’s pretty cool that now all three of us have played here,” Leiter said. “It’s a great legacy for my family, and to get a chance to put on the pinstripes is pretty awesome. They were very excited; just being close to home, they’re able to come to more games, so that’s just a plus.”