Biography
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, posting a .346/.459/.527/.987 slash line with 3 home runs and 20 runs batted in (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, slashing .356/.447/.719 with 63 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 slashed .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 Andrew Abbott of the Cincinnati Reds. Playing three games at Round Rock in May, he batted .200/.273/.200. On June 22, against the Kansas City Royals, Langford hit his first career grand slam off reliever Ángel Zerpa in the eighth inning. On June 30, he hit for the cycle against the Baltimore Orioles, the 11th player to accomplish the feat in franchise history. On September 3, Langford hit a walk-off grand slam against the New York Yankees, the 8th one in franchise history. Additionally, he is the first player since Jackie Robinson, and the first rookie ever, to hit an inside-the-park homer, a walk-off grand slam, and hit for the cycle in the same season.
Awards
In July 2024, he was named American League Rookie of the Month for June 2024.
In October 2024, he was named American League Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month for September 2024.