Wyatt Langford

Wyatt Michael Langford (born November 15, 2001) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Langford played college baseball for the Florida Gators. He was selected fourth overall by the Rangers in the 2023 MLB draft, and made his MLB debut in 2024.

Amateur career

Langford attended Trenton High School in Trenton, Florida. He played baseball, football, and basketball at Trenton. In 2019, he won the 2019 Perfect Game National Home Run Derby. Langford committed to the University of Florida to play college baseball.

As a freshman at Florida in 2021, Langford played in four games and had one hit over four at-bats. That summer he played for the Charlottesville Tom Sox in the Valley Baseball League, hitting .346/.459/.527/.987 with 3 home runs and 20 RBI. In 2022, he started all 66 games and hit 26 home runs, which tied Matt LaPorta for most home runs in a season by a Gators player. He finished the season, hitting.356/.447/.719 with 63 runs batted in (RBI). After the season, he played for the United States collegiate national team during the summer. He also played in nine games for the Peninsula Pilots of the Coastal Plain League.

Langford entered the 2023 season as one of the top prospects for the 2023 Major League Baseball draft and the potential first overall pick. Langford hit .373/.498/.784/1.282 with 21 home runs, 57 RBI, and 9 stolen bases for the Gators in 2023. Langford was a 2023 Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist. He was a 2023 unanimous First Team All-American. Langford helped lead Florida to the 2023 Men's College World Series finals and was named to the 2023 College World Series All-Tournament Team.

Professional career

The Texas Rangers chose Langford in the first round, with the fourth overall selection, in the 2023 MLB draft. On July 18, Langford signed with Texas for a $8 million signing bonus. Langford made his professional debut with the ACL Rangers of the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League, hitting .385 with 1 home run and 4 RBI over 3 games. He was promoted to the Hickory Crawdads of the High-A South Atlantic League on August 2. Over 24 games for Hickory, he hit .333/.453/.644/1.097 with 5 home runs, 15 RBI, and 7 stolen bases. Langford was then promoted to the Frisco RoughRiders of the Double-A Texas League for the final 12 games of their season, hitting .405/.519/.762/1.280 with 4 home runs, 10 RBI, and 1 stolen base. Langford's rapid ascent through the minor leagues contained one final stop in 2023, with a promotion on September 19 to the Round Rock Express of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League for the final 6 games of their season.

Langford made the Rangers Opening Day roster in 2024. On April 28, he hit his first home run, an inside-the-park home run off of Andrew Abbott of the Cincinnati Reds.

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference (Minors)
• Florida Gators bio

1. Wyatt (given name)
2. 2023 NCAA Division I baseball tournament
3. 2023 Major League Baseball draft
4. Texas Rangers (baseball)
5. 2023 Southeastern Conference baseball tournament
6. 2024 Texas Rangers season
7. Hurston Waldrep
8. 2023 Florida Gators baseball team
9. 2023 College Baseball All-America Team
10. Trenton, Florida
11. List of Major League Baseball team rosters
12. 2022 Southeastern Conference baseball season
13. Charlottesville Tom Sox
14. Texas Rangers all-time roster
15. Valley Baseball League
16. List of Texas Rangers first-round draft picks
17. 2001 in baseball
18. Little Langford
19. Grand Teton
20. Nate Kinski