Wyatt Langford
Texas Rangers – No. 36
Outfielder
Born: (2001-11-15) November 15, 2001
Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
Bats: Right
Throws: Right

Wyatt Michael Langford (born November 15, 2001) is an American professional baseball outfielder in the Texas Rangers organization. He was the fourth overall selection in the 2023 Major League Baseball draft. He played college baseball for the Florida Gators.

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.[1] Langford committed to the University of Florida to play college baseball.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5][6] He also played in nine games for the Peninsula Pilots of the Coastal Plain League.[7]

Langford entered the 2023 season as one of the top prospects for the 2023 Major League Baseball draft and the potential first overall pick.[8][9][10] Langford hit .373/.498/.784/1.282 with 21 home runs, 57 RBI, and 9 stolen bases for the Gators in 2023.[11] Langford was a 2023 Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist.[12] 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.[13]

Professional career

Langford was drafted by the Texas Rangers with the 4th overall selection in the 2023 MLB draft.[14] On July 18, Langford signed with Texas for a $8MM signing bonus.[15] 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.[16] He was promoted to the Hickory Crawdads of the High-A South Atlantic League on August 2.[17] Over 24 games for Hickory, he hit .333/.453/.644/1.097 with 5 home runs, 15 RBI, and 7 stolen bases.[18] 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.[19] 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.[20][21]

References

  1. ↑ "Wyatt Langford signs with Gators after stellar career at Trenton High School". June 29, 2020.
  2. ↑ Savage, Larry. "Trenton's Langford signs baseball scholarship with Gators". Gainesville Sun.
  3. ↑ "Ten Players Representing Tom Sox in 2023 Men's College World Series". Charlottesville Tom Sox. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
  4. ↑ "UF's Langford putting Trenton on the map". December 20, 2022.
  5. ↑ Hall, Graham. "UF sophomore Wyatt Langford to compete for spot on USA Collegiate National Team roster". Gator Sports.
  6. ↑ "Trenton native lands on USA Baseball roster". July 5, 2022.
  7. ↑ Rhiel, Connor (June 24, 2022). "Wyatt Langford taking Peninsula by storm". WVEC. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
  8. ↑ "MLB Draft Quick Hits: Florida Outfielder Wyatt Langford". www.baseballamerica.com.
  9. ↑ "After last season's blastoff for the Florida Gators, how far will Wyatt Langford go in 2023?". Gator Sports.
  10. ↑ "MLB Pipeline projects Florida OF as No. 1 pick of 2023 MLB draft On July 9th, 2023, Langford was drafted 4th overall by the Texas Rangers". January 4, 2023.
  11. ↑ "What the Texas Rangers are getting in Florida baseball OF Wyatt Langford". Gator Sports. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
  12. ↑ https://www.usabaseball.com/golden-spikes-award/nominees/2023
  13. ↑ "Wyatt Langford - Baseball". Florida Gators. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
  14. ↑ Landry, Kennedi (June 9, 2023). "Rangers select Florida OF Wyatt Langford at No. 4". MLB.com. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
  15. ↑ Landry, Kennedi (July 18, 2023). "Rangers select Florida OF Wyatt Langford at No. 4". MLB.com. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  16. ↑ Rosenberg, David (August 1, 2023). "Former Gator Wyatt Langford promoted to High-A". Gators Wire. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  17. ↑ McFarland, Shawn (August 2, 2023). "Rangers' first-round pick Wyatt Langford earns promotion to High-A after three pro games". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Rangers promote 2023 first-round pick Wyatt Langford to Double-A Frisco". The Dallas Morning News. September 4, 2023. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Texas Rangers Prospect OF Wyatt Langford Promoted to Round Rock". MiLB.com. September 19, 2023. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  20. ↑ Drottar, Casey (September 20, 2023). "Langford arrives in Triple-A, promptly swats 4 hits". MLB.com. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  21. ↑ Cooper, J. J.; Pontes, Geoff; Glaser, Kyle; Norris, Josh (September 19, 2023). "Prospect Hot Sheet (9/19/23): Wyatt Langford Makes Quite the Introduction". Baseball America. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.