Update: Mark Leiter, Jr. made his major league debut against the Dodgers on April 29, 2017, pitching a 1-2-3 seventh inning

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NEWARK, NJ—Mark Leiter, Jr., who completed his four-year college playing career at NJIT in May 2013, was called up to the Philadelphia Phillies from the Phillies Class AAA team the Lehigh Valley (PA) Iron Pigs Tuesday afternoon.

Leiter Jr., takes the place of outfielder Howie Kendrick on the Phillies' roster. Kendrick was placed on the 10-day disabled list on Tuesday with a muscle injury. 

Leiter Jr., the nephew of former Major League pitcher Al Leiter and the son of former Major League pitcher Mark Leiter, Sr., was selected by the Phillies with the 661st overall pick in the draft, on June 8, 2013. In being picked, Leiter was the first NJIT student-athlete selected in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.

Most recently with the Leigh Valley Iron Pigs, Leiter Jr., pitched in two games, striking out 11, allowing five hits for a 1.69 ERA in 5 1/3 innings.

He pitched for the Lakewood Blue Claws (Phillies' Class A Affiliate) in three games in 2013 and started 16 games for the Blue Claws in 2014 season before being promoted to Class A Clearwater, where he went 5-7 with a 4.38 earned run average for the Blue Claws.

Last season, Leiter Jr. was 6-3 with a 3.39 ERA in 23 games, including 17 starts and six relief appearances for Reading (PA) Fightins, the Phillies Class AA team.

As a Highlander, in 2013, Leiter posted a 5-9 overall record, with a 4.94 earned run average, while setting an NJIT school-season record for strikeouts (106 in 94.2 innings). He pitched five complete games with one shutout in 2013.

For his career, he won 18 games (18-27), with 360.1 innings pitched, 15 complete games, two shutouts and a school-record 364 strikeouts.

He was All-Great West second team as a sophomore and a New Jersey Division I All-State All-Rookie pick as a freshman.

Leiter, Jr. follows in a family tradition set in the previous generation by his father Mark, uncle Al, and uncle Kurt. Mark Leiter, Sr., was taken in the fourth round of the 1983 draft and pitched in 11 major league seasons, including two with the Phillies, his son's new organization. Working as a starting pitcher, he won 10 games for the Phillies in 1997 and moving to the bullpen a year later, he appeared in 69 games and led Philadelphia with 23 saves. Al Leiter, who was picked by the Yankees in the second round in 1984, won 162 games in a major league career that spanned 19 seasons. And Kurt Leiter pitched in the Orioles organization. According to The Sporting News, Leiter is one of 18 sons of former major leaguers.

Photos courtesy Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs