John Harper, SNY.tv | Twitter |

It will be a whirlwind few days for the Leiter family, particularly father Al, the former Mets' star pitcher and current front-office adviser, and son Jack, a star high school pitcher at Delbarton School in New Jersey.

On Sunday there is the graduation ceremony at Delbarton. Monday brings the MLB Draft, with Al's son ranked by evaluators as a sure-fire first-round talent. And then Wednesday, Jack will try to pitch his team to a state championship.

"Yeah, there's a lot going on,"Al Leiter said with a chuckle on Saturday, speaking over the phone. "Some of it's a little nerve-wracking, but it's exciting."

Remarkably, the MLB Draft and the dream of a pro career that it represents, not to mention a multi-million dollar signing bonus, seems to be the least nerve-wracking on the list of upcoming events, because to hear Al talk, almost nothing that happens Monday night could change Jack's commitment to go to Vanderbilt.

"My son is a very good student and he wants the experience of going to college," Leiter said. "And my wife and I want him to have that experience. Vanderbilt has a great baseball program, and it's a great school. One of my daughters just graduated from there. So really this is about a life choice."

Of course, over the years more than a few draftees have used such talk as leverage to get the highest possible signing bonus. In fact, Al said he did just that in 1984, when he used the threat of scholarship offers to Stanford and Florida to squeeze $110,000 out of the Yankees as their second-round pick, or $40,000 more than they originally offered.

"I knew I was signing if the money was right," Leiter recalled. "I played the game, using the college offers to get more out of the Yankees. The money was a big factor for me and my family. It's different with Jack. The money is a lot bigger now, but I'm fortunate that it isn't a factor."

That's what 19 years in the big leagues, and $68 million in career earnings, according to baseball-reference.com, will do for a man.

And Leiter said he has been candid about the Vanderbilt scenario with teams that have inquired about drafting his son.

"I don't want to leave anybody hanging," he said. "If there is a phone call the day of the draft, we'll handle it. But the teams know what the situation is."

A scouting director of one MLB team told me that while Jack Leiter otherwise likely would go anywhere from 15th to 25th overall, which normally would carry a signing bonus of $3 to $4 million, he doesn't expect a team will gamble a first-round pick on the right-hander.

This isn't a case of somebody trying to dictate which team picks him or anything like that," the scouting director said. "I think everybody respects that Al has been upfront about the family's intention."

And so although Al works in the MLB Network building where the draft is held, in Secaucus, N.J., and has taped some breakdown segments of other likely first-rounders, neither he nor Jack will be on hand with other potential draftees. Instead they'll be watching on TV from their New Jersey home.

"It'll be fun," he said. "We've gotten to know a lot of the kids, and their families, who will be drafted in the first round because Jack has pitched in a bunch of national showcase events the last couple of summers. And there's a shortstop, Anthony Volpe, on Jack's Delbarton team who has a chance to be a first-rounder.

"I don't want people to get the wrong idea. Jack's dream is to pitch in the big leagues. He's worked his tail off at it. He loves pitching and being around the ballfield, but he wants to go to college."

So there is no scenario that might alter the plan?

Well, Al does leave the door open, just a crack anyway. Because even if no team is likely to use a first-round pick on his son, he notes that there are at least a few teams that have enough pool money for the draft (which is based on loss of free agents, position in the standings, etc.) to get a high first-round pick and still have enough to draft Jack in, say, the third round and make a tempting multi-million dollar offer.

"Teams are in their war rooms this weekend debating who to take," Leiter said. "If Jack's name were to keep moving up somebody's board, then they might try to get creative in that way and there might be a conversation to be had."

Considering that Jack Leiter is ranked among the top two or three best high school pitchers in the country, selected to pitch the gold-medal game for Team USA in the Pan-Am Games last summer, it's possible that some team would select him in the third round and still make an offer of, who knows, $4 million, $5 million, $6 million?

Al doesn't seem to anticipate that, but neither does he want to come off as dismissive of money that would be considered life-changing for most families.

"Listen, I thank God every day that I was able to make the money I did in the big leagues," Al said. "It gives you a chance to do what's best for your kids. And not just with my son."

Ah, yes, with three daughters, Lindsay, Carly, and Katelyn, as well as wife Lori, Leiter makes a point of noting the household doesn't revolve strictly around Jack's baseball career, though he admits that sharing the pitching bond with his son has been ultra-gratifying.

"The biggest thing for me is he's loved it since he was a little boy," Al said. "He's self-motivated, and he wants to make it to the big leagues. I'm involved because I watch his delivery. I want to try and make sure he stays healthy.

"At his games I sit behind home plate and I do some simple charting: balls, strikes, first-pitch strikes, winning the 1-1 count. It's rudimentary but It's fun for me and my son likes it, because we can have conversations about it later, just to get him thinking pitching.

"There's no hollering during games or anything like that. I just sit and watch. I enjoy watching him do his thing. He's pretty good."

Leiter chuckles again. If he thought sending Jack to Vanderbilt would set him back in terms of his baseball future, he'd advise against it. But he notes that the program has turned out the likes of David Price, Sonny Gray, Walker Buehler, and Braves' rookie Kyle Wright in recent years.

"It's a tremendous program with great coaches," Leiter said. "Jack's not going to disappear. In three years they can draft him again."

Barring something unforeseen, then, both father and son will be much more interested in the MLB Draft come June 2022 than they will be Monday night.

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