10 things to know about Rangers’ top pick Wyatt Langford, including his ‘sensitive’ injury

The Rangers have their newest prospect.

Texas has selected Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford with the fourth overall pick in the 2023 MLB draft, continuing their trend of SEC-heavy first-rounders.

Here are some things to know about Langford, including his small-town beginnings, his eye-popping numbers at Florida, and a cringe-inducing injury he suffered last season with the Gators.

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1. The basics

Name: Wyatt Langford

Position: Outfield

School: Florida

Height/weight: 6-1, 225

Throws/bats: R/R

2. Tigers make things easy

Leading into the draft, multiple mocks had Langford going as the No. 1 overall pick to the Pirates. Nearly all of them, meanwhile, had the Rangers choosing between high school outfielders Max Clark and Walker Jenkins, with Langford off the board by No. 3.

Instead it was LSU ace Paul Skenes going to Pittsburgh, teammate Dylan Crews to Washington at No. 2, and Clark going at No. 3 to the Detroit Tigers, who kind of decided the Rangers’ Clark/Jenkins conundrum for them by leaving Langford on the board.

3. What the experts say

Here’s what some high-profile baseball voices had to say about Langford before the draft...

The Athletic’s Keith Law:

“In a typical year, he’d be the no-doubt first pick ... A 70 runner with a beautiful right-handed swing that generates real power already — he hit 26 homers last year, tying him for sixth in the country with first-rounder Kevin Parada ... He’s not quite hitting at the pace of LSU’s Dylan Crews, but Langford is having an incredible year by non-Crews standards.”

ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel:

“I saw him play against South Carolina earlier this month, and I think you need to see him in person to really take in his stature — he looks like an NFL linebacker or strong safety. In a normal year, Langford would have a very strong case to go No. 1 overall.”

CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson:

“Langford is coming off a phenomenal season that saw him hit .350/.484/.720 with one fewer walks than strikeouts against SEC competition. He projects to have plus or better hit and power tools despite an unorthodox swing that features minimal hand load and him striding into the bucket. He pairs those traits with an oft-praised approach and sneakily above-average footspeed (though he stole only 13 bases during his collegiate career).”

4. Small-town kid

Langford was a three-star athlete (football, basketball, baseball) at Trenton High School in Trenton, Fla., population a little over 2,000.

He played on the varsity football team as an eighth grader. They went undefeated and won the state title.

Langford won the 2019 Perfect Game home run derby, and was the first Trenton baseball player to ever sign with Florida.

5. Humbling freshman year

Langford’s freshman year at Florida was his only season in Gainesville in which he didn’t shine — probably because he only played four games. He fell out of favor as a freshman catcher and finished the season without having started a game.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” Langford told the Orlando Sentinel. “I was expecting to come in and play and help the team win, so it was tough just sitting and watching a lot.”

Langford had never played outfield to that point, but the Gators had an opening in left. He spent the offseason improving his diet, hitting the gym and reshaping his body, coming back for his sophomore year as a 225-pound power-hitting left fielder.

“I don’t know if I’ve seen a player change his body and change the athleticism as much as [Langford] has,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan told the Independent Florida Alligator.

6. Gator great

The Langford experience began in earnest his sophomore season, when he played in 66 games and hit .356/.447/.719 with 63 RBI and 26 home runs — tied for fourth in the country. In 64 games his junior season he hit .373/498/.784 while cementing his status as one of the best hitters in the country and a top overall draft prospect.

7. Five tools? Four, at least...

“Five-tool player” is a term that’s thrown around liberally with baseball prospects, but in Langford’s case all five — hit for power, hit for average, speed, glove, and arm — might be legit weapons.

His average and power are obvious from his college slashline. He’s got above-average speed and stole 16 bases at Florida, and he has a strong arm from his days as a catcher.

The glove is the main question — Langford is still inexperienced in the outfield.

“Langford isn’t a natural or instinctive defender, even in left field.” Keith Law wrote before the draft. “He’s so fast you’d think he could handle center, but we have seen guys with his speed (Derek Fisher comes to mind, and to a lesser extent Corey Ray) who just couldn’t carry it over to defense.”

8. Good eye

The bat isn’t the only part of Langford’s offensive game that impresses, as his patience and eye for pitches make him even more of a difficult out.

According to 6-4-3 Charts, Langford has a 90.3% Z-contact rate, a measurement of how often a player makes contact with pitches in the strikezone, and just a 17.3% chase rate.

9. Wyatt’s clutch monster-shot

Langford was a key contributor to Florida’s run to the 2023 College World Series final, where they ultimately fell to Skenes, Crews and the LSU Tigers. The Gators weren’t without their share of incredible moments though.

Langford’s biggest came in the CWS opening round against Virginia when, with the Gators down one in the bottom of the ninth, Langford hit an absolute monster home run to tie the game. It came off the bat at 112 mph, went 456 feet into the Omaha night, and set a record for the longest homer ever hit at Charles Schwab Field.

A little over a week later, Langford hit the second-longest homer at Schwab Field against LSU (449 feet).

10. Sensitive injury

Want a peek at the toughness of the Rangers’ newest prospect?

In a game against Siena last March, Langford fouled off a fastball into a very undesirable place.

The result (and brace yourself if you’re squeamish) was a ruptured testicle that required surgical repair, with a timetable for return at around a month. A return that, according to reports, would be based on Langford’s ability to tolerate pain.

Langford returned after two weeks.

If nothing else, the Rangers have experience with players who have undergone traumatic testicle-related injuries. And it worked out pretty well with the first guy.

Twitter: @coylio33

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