SURPRISE, Ariz. — The 2022 season ended in an unsatisfactory manner for the Texas Rangers. They had, after all, surprisingly spent over $500 million dollars in free agency to try to push a half-decade’s long rebuild over the finish line. For that effort, they finished 68-94 and in fourth place in the AL West while general manager Jon Daniels and manager Chris Woodward were kicked to the curb.
However, there was fortune that came from that stumble, besides the groundwork being laid for what would become a championship season just a year later. With the poor showing in 2022, the Rangers finished with the league’s 7th worst record, and by virtue of the league’s first ever draft lottery, Texas moved up to 4th in the draft where they were able to pounce on outfield prospect Wyatt Langford, who was coming off a legendary performance at the College World Series.
The hype around Langford was palpable at the time and it’s only grown since then after he put together a .385/.429/.846 slash line during his first summer as a professional that saw him move all the way up to Triple A Round Rock and onto the taxi squad of possible reserves during the postseason run for Texas.
As with most draft picks, however, expectations need to be measured; after all, it’s so rare that draft picks pan out over the long road it takes to get to The Show, let alone half a year after being drafted.
With that in mind, the Rangers, satisfied with their World Series outfield of Adolis Garcia, Leody Taveras, rookie sensation Evan Carter, and with fourth outfielder Travis Jankowski back in the mix, brought the former Florida Gator Langford to big league camp with no pressure despite a clear opportunity to win a job just eight months after he was drafted.
Needless to say, it’s growing harder to keep expectations in check when it comes to Langford. Watching how he goes about his business in his first camp, shadowing fellow rookie Carter, leaves the impression that both superlative prospects are going to be a problem for the league – and far sooner than seemed reasonable mere months ago. It almost seems unfair.
While all the hype has come from the latest ascending outfielder Langford this spring, it’s still not enough to make anyone forget that Carter is coming off a history-making stretch during a World Series push where he outshined the game’s brightest established stars on the biggest stage.
That Texas essentially lucked into having another future star on their hands so soon after discovering one that propelled them to their greatest heights is fortune unforeseen for this franchise. For a Rangers team that finally broke through and won the game’s richest prize after half a century, even the lowlight of their injury-ravaged rotation can’t seem to dim the brightness of the pending rockets that are Carter and Langford.
In over three games that I witnessed in Arizona last week, Langford went 5-for-9 with a double, an RBI and four runs scored. He later hit a grand slam, his fifth homer in Cactus League action, and has produced an astonishing OPS of 1.235 in just over 40 at-bats this spring.
The success that I saw was against established Major League pitching like Drew Smyly, Patrick Sandoval and Hunter Strickland. What’s more, Langford didn’t look uncomfortable in the slightest at the plate. His swing was smooth, his demeanor unwaveringly calm, a trait he seems to share with Carter.
Meanwhile, his younger-in-age-but-older-in-experience World Series winning teammate was just ahead of him in the batting order in all three games and went 4-for-9 himself. Carter drove in two and scored four runs as a table-setter for his fellow lauded rookie.
In a lineup that topped Major League Baseball in many offensive categories last year even before Carter’s arrival in September, having a full year of Carter and being able to bring up Langford is, as mentioned above, unfair.
Yes, it’s a real possibility that the Rangers, who obviously didn’t know how Langford would respond to his audition against big leaguers in camp, put the ultra-hyped prospect on the Opening Day roster.
With infielders Corey Seager, Nathaniel Lowe, and Josh Jung all missing action with injuries this spring, and each potentially absent for Opening Day against the Chicago Cubs on March 28, adding Langford to help produce makes all the sense in the world.
Carter and Langford, ranked as the No. 5 and No. 6 prospects by MLB, respectively, are also, unsurprisingly, ranked as the Rangers’ two top prospects and they’re right on the cusp of being big league regulars. When the season starts, and even as the season progresses, they could be hitting as high as leadoff or in the middle of the order – but back-to-back seems to be where they will cause the most damage.
At full strength, what does a Rangers’ lineup look like with the New Kids?
2B Marcus Semien
SS Corey Seager
LF Evan Carter
DH Wyatt Langford
RF Adolis Garcia
1B Nathaniel Lowe
3B Josh Jung
C Jonah Heim
CF Leody Taveras
The length that having hitters like Carter and Langford affords manager Bruce Bochy, along with the depth behind each of those positions, gives the future Hall of Fame manager a vast amount of firepower. It’s on display in Arizona right now, and at the rate it’s going, it looks like it’ll be on display at Globe Life Field for the foreseeable future.
Do you think the Rangers will have a Rookie of the Year winner in 2024? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
