Texas Rangers Fast-Rising Star Wyatt Langford Looks To Follow Evan Carter's Lead
ARLINGTON — Few baseball players have a year like Wyatt Langford in 2023.
The Texas Rangers first-round draft pick (No. 4 overall) last July went from playing college baseball for Florida in June, to the Rangers' Arizona Complex League in July to High-A Hickory in early August and Double-A Frisco in early September.
He finished his first season in professional baseball with seven games for Triple-A Round Rock. No matter where he was, one thing remained a constant: Langford slugged.
That's why the 22-year-old outfielder has a good chance of earning a spot on the Rangers' Opening Day roster this spring.
"Yeah, it's been insane, honestly," Langford said. "At the turn of the new year, I tried to take some time to realize what happened all last year, take it all in, and be thankful for all that happened."
Langford is thankful and appreciative, but truthfully, he doesn't appear to be surprised. He has confidence as a hitter oozing out of him. He hears the chatter about making the big league roster, even while trying to block it out. Either way, he doesn't appear in over his head — certainly not from a production standpoint, but not from a mental standpoint either. The idea of earning a spot in his first spring training just seems like par for the course for him.
"Yeah, it's definitely crazy. All of this is crazy, really. You can't really think this up," he said. "It's awesome to have that opportunity. I'm not trying to do anything. I'm just going to go out there and just play the game and try taking a bunch of knowledge from those older guys."
Langford and several other young prospects met with manager Bruce Bochy before the team's awards dinner on Friday at Globe Life Field.
"It was really good just to soak up all the knowledge he has. He's a Hall of Fame coach, so he has a lot to say, and it was good to sit back and listen to it all."
Evan Carter's success in the big leagues last fall showed Langford how quickly it could happen for him.
"Being a part of this organization, seeing a guy like that, who's younger than me, to come up and be able to do something like that is really cool to see," Langford said. "It's really cool for the organization, and it's been really cool to hear all the staff and everyone talk about him and how he was able to make that jump and perform at that stage."
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