Rangers Will Miss Wyatt Langford’s Slugging During Injured List Stint

The Rangers must do without Wyatt Langford for the rest of April. It provides a chance to assess his season after 24 games.

Texas Rangers left fielder Wyatt Langford. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Just when Wyatt Langford’s bat was getting hot, the Texas Rangers had to move him to the injured list.

Texas is hoping that his Grade 1 right flexor strain, as Langford described it to reporters on Wednesday, is only a 10-day stay on the injured list. This is the fifth time in his career that he’s been placed on the 10-day IL and most of those stays have been the minimum.

The timing it’s great for Langford or the Rangers. He just got back from a road trip in which his bat started slugging again, even with three missed days due to a quad issue. The Rangers returned home for a nine-game homestand hoping to have its best everyday lineup at its disposal. Now, both will wait a bit longer.

But, it does provide an opportunity to assess where Langford is 24 games into the season. Here’s a look at where he’s at.

Wyatt Langford At a Glance

Texas Rangers center fielder Wyatt Langford. | Dennis Lee-Imagn Images

Here are Langford’s traditional baseball numbers after 24 games:

Slash line of .238/.274/.363 with one home runs and four RBI. He also has three doubles and two triples. He has struck out 19 times and walked four times. He also has three stolen bases and has scored nine runs. That is in 20 games played. He missed three games during the west coast road trip with a strained quad.

Langford has collected a bWAR of 0.6. His career best was 5.6 in 2025 when he slashed .241/.344/.431 with 22 home runs and 62 RBI. He was a 20/20 player with 22 stolen bases and was an AL Gold Glove finalist in left field.

Langford has done nearly all his damage at the plate against right-handed pitching with a .293 batting average, his home run and three of his four RBI. He’s struggled against left-handers, batting .091. The struggle against left-handed pitching is a team-wide trend early in the season.

Statcast Numbers

Wyatt Langford speaks on his three-hit night and the Rangers' 5-0 win against the Mariners 🎤@RangersSNtv | #MLB pic.twitter.com/xZ7LvN9Bxt

— Victory+ (@victoryplustv) April 18, 2026

Because of his rough start to the season, his best overall Statcast numbers are non-batting. He ranks in the 96th percentile in baserunning run value and in the 94th percentile in fielding run value. But his batting run value is minus-3 and in the 24th percentile. Much of that was driven by the fact that Langford was batting below .200 before the road trip.

His only two batting numbers in the red are his average exit velocity and his squared-up percentage. His average exit velocity of 90.8 mph is in the 72nd percentile while his squared-up percentage is 29.1% and in the 78th percentile. That indicates that when Langford makes contact, whether it’s a hit or not, he’s making quality contact.

Early on, his fielding has been great, as indicated by the overall number. But his 89th percentile ranking in range (OAA) and his 94th percentile ranking in arm value are terrific. His arm strength value is 84.4, which is in the 54th percentile, and is only average. That’s only slightly below where he was a year ago.

The Bottom Line So Far

Langford slumped out of the game, and he used the recently wrapped-up road trip to get right. He left Texas with a .160 batting average and returned with a .241 batting average. Even with the three missed games he slashed .379/.419/.517. He found his groove. And, now, he must wait another 10 days to start again. His history suggests that he produces well after IL stints. Texas hopes that will be the case.