Rangers Moving Wyatt Langford to Injured List with Flexor Strain

The Texas Rangers are being cautious with Wyatt Langford, who left Tuesday’s game with an injury.

Texas Rangers left fielder Wyatt Langford. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

For the second time in two weeks the Texas Rangers are dealing with an injury to left fielder Wyatt Langford. This time, he couldn’t dodge the injured list.

Langford told reporters before the Rangers could announce any move that he had a Grade 1 flexor strain in his right forearm and was heading to the 10-day injured list, per MLB.com's Kennedi Landry. The Rangers have officially called it a right forearm strain.

The Rangers promoted Alejandro Osuna from Triple-A Round Rock to take Langford's place. In addition, the Rangers announced that pitcher Marc Church cleared waivers after being designated for assignment and was optioned back to Round Rock.

Langford left Tuesday’s game with right forearm tightness, per the Rangers. Langford told reporters after the game that the tightness was first felt during a swing in his second at-bat. He did go back out into the field and played an inning and said he felt no pain when he threw. But after test swinging again in the dugout and felt the same tightness, he was removed from the game. Ezequiel Duran replaced him in left field.

Duran is in Langford’s position and is batting ninth on Wednesday.

What’s Next for Wyatt Langford

Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Injuries have been an issue for Langford during his career but none of them have been major.

During the previous road trip, he strained his left quad while hitting a home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 10 and missed three games but did not go on the injured list.

Last year he went on the injured list three times, all for separate oblique injuries. The last oblique injury ended his season because it was five days before the season finale. He suffered a hamstring injury that put on him on the 10-day injured list during his rookie season in 2024.

The timing isn’t great. Langford used the road trip to hit his way out of a horrible start to the season and is now slashing .238/.274/.363 with one home run and four RBI. He also has three doubles and two triples.

The Rangers have coverage for left field without Langford. Along with Duran, Texas can play Sam Haggerty and Andrew McCutchen there. But Duran’s bat is the hottest of the three. He drove in a run in Langford’s absence on Tuesday and is slashing .298/.353/.447 with one home run and eight RBI this season. He’s on pace to have the best hitting season of his career even though he doesn’t have a set position.

Osuna was one of two outfielders on the 40-man roster at Triple-A, along with Michael Helman. Both played for Texas last year in the Majors but did not make the opening day roster.

The Rangers finish their three-game series with the Pirates on Thursday. After that, Texas hosts the Athletics for three games and the New York Yankees for three games. The Athletics have a half-game lead on the Rangers in the AL West.