Texas Rangers Young Star Will Miss Time With Injury, Bruce Bochy Provides Optimism

One of the Texas Rangers young stars will be out for a little with an injury, but Bruch Bochy is confident the outfielder will be back sooner rather than later.

Sep 22, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers left fielder Wyatt Langford (36) walks back to the dugout after he strikes out during the fourth inning against the Seattle Mariners at Globe Life Field | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Injuries are part of the game, something the Texas Rangers know all too well after last season.

With a loaded roster and their sights set on repeating as World Series champions last year after winning the franchise's first ever title in 2023, things went off the rails in a hurry when player after player went down with an injury.

The hope was the Rangers would be able to avoid that this season.

Unfortunately, before Spring Training games have even gotten underway, Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News reported that Wyatt Langford is going to miss "five-to-seven days" after he suffered what manager Bruce Bochy described as "a mild left oblique strain."

This isn't great news, but the skipper is providing optimism surrounding this development.

"The timing on this couldn’t be better really. We're just starting the first game. Some guys don't even start things until March 1. He won't have any problem getting the number of at-bats that he needs," Bochy stated.

That's the glass half full way of looking at things.

It's still very early in the spring with Opening Day over a month away, so if Langford really only has to miss the maximum projection of a week, then he should have more than enough time to return and get ready for the opener.

However, Texas also gave this same timeline to Nathaniel Lowe last year when he suffered an oblique strain, something that resulted in him missing almost two months.

There's no reason to panic just yet, especially with the optimism that Bochy has surrounding this situation.

Langford is expected to be a featured part of this Rangers team in 2025 after he debuted last season and slashed 253/.325/.415 with 16 homers, 45 extra-base hits, 74 RBI and had an OPS+ of 111.

Hopefully this is just a minor thing like Bochy is suggesting and the fourth overall pick of the 2023 draft can get back onto the field soon and ramp up for the start of Opening Day.