Wyatt Langford

Wyatt Michael Langford

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 1", Weight 225 lb.
School University of Florida
High School Trenton (FL) High School
Debut March 28, 2024

Born November 15, 2001 in Gainesville, FL USA

Biographical Information[edit]

OF Wyatt Langford was the fourth overall pick of the 2023 amateur draft, by the Texas Rangers out of the University of Florida. He had been one of four players being talked about as a potential first overall pick, alongside Paul Skenes, Dylan Crews and high schooler Max Clark. He and Crews were clearly the two best college hitters available, and many scouts said it was a toss-up between the two as who was better. They ended up facing one another in the final game of the 2023 College World Series, which Crews' Louisiana State University won over Florida, but the talent gap between the two was minimal.

Langford first emerged as a top prospect in his sophomore season with the Gators in 2022, when he hit .356 in 66 games, with 26 homers and 63 RBIs. In 2023, he batted .373 with 21 homers and 57 RBIs in 64 games, also scoring an incredible 83 runs. He had been a three-sport star in high school, also playing football and basketball, but his time there was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He hardly played during his freshman year at Florida, which was basically his hometown college as his residence of Trenton, FL was located only a few miles from there. Many had already seen him as a potential first-rounder in the 2020 amateur draft, before the pandemic completely upended that draft and pushed many top high schoolers to go to college, whereas they would have been motivated to turn pro under normal circumstances. While he was a left fielder in college, having converted from catcher, he was seen as a potential major league centerfielder given his outstanding speed.

After signing with the Rangers, he played at four different levels in 2023, starting with the ACL Rangers and moving all the way to the AAA Round Rock Express in the span of 44 games. His slash line was .360/.480/.677 with 17 doubles and 10 homers as it was made immediately clear that there would be little point leaving him in the minors for an extended period. Indeed, when he arrived in spring training in 2024, the Rangers made it clear that he was in the running for a regular job with the defending World Series champions and emphasized that point by having him start the team's first Cactus League game. On March 22nd, the Rangers announced that he had made the team's Opening Day roster. He started at DH that day, batting fifth at home against the Chicago Cubs on March 28th and went 1 for 3 with a walk in a 4-3 win; that walk was an intentional one with two outs in the bottom of the 8th inning and the score tied, a sign that he was already a feared hitter in spite of his lack of big league experience. His first hit was a single off Yency Almonte in the 6th inning. He was the second player from the 2023 draft to make his debut, following #11 pick Nolan Schanuel who had done so the previous August. His first major league homer came on April 28th off Andrew Abbott of the Cincinnati Reds; unusually, it was an inside-the-park homer. On June 30th, in a game broadcast nationally on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball", he became the first major league player to hit for the cycle that season, and in doing so led the Rangers to an 11-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles. He was the first Rangers player to achieve the feat since Carlos Gomez in 2017 after capping his day with a three-run homer off Matt Krook in the 8th. He scored three runs and drove in four in achieving the 11th cycle in franchise history, and just the 8th player to do so within his first 60 career games (former Ranger Oddibe McDowell also appeared on both lists). He was then named the American League Rookie of the Month for June, hitting .309 with a slugging percentage of .526 during the month after missing a good chunk of May with a hamstring injury. He finished the year on a strong note, being named both the Rookie of the Month for a second time and the AL Player of the Month in September. That month, he hit .300 and slugged .610 while belting 8 homers, stealing 7 bases, and collecting 20 RBIs. For the season, he was at .253 in 134 games, with 25 doubles, 16 homers, 74 runs and as many RBIs, 19 stolen bases in 22 attempts, and an OPS+ of 111.

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