Injury history of Rangers young outfielder major reason team has refused to commit long-term

Immediately upon his fourth overall selection out of the University of Florida in 2023, it seemed Wyatt Langford was special and had all the makings of the next five-tool star.

He showed glimpse of that during his rookie season and kept it rolling by making Rangers' history during his sophomore season last year. Why then, while other young stars are inking long-term deals, is Langford still on his rookie contract?

Ultimate value of a player is his ability to stay on the field

There's a reason the old saying "the best ability is availability" made famous by legendary NFl coach Bill Parcells in the 1980s has struck around to this day.

It's also the reason why stars, especially in baseball, have managed to play beyond their prime and prove valuable to organizations. Take current Met and former Ranger Marcus Semien as an example. He's famously become known as a player that no matter what, rain or shine, is taking the field every game.

During the Rangers 2023 World Series run, Semien led the league in games played (including the postseason), appearing in all 179 games for Texas. It's also a big reason why Semien was able to stay longer than he should've in Texas, because he only missed four games in his first three seasons.

On the other hand, Langford has either been injured or spent time on the injured list, at least once in all three of his big league seasons. First it was a hamstring strain after the first month of his rookie season and most recently a right forearm strain which has caused him to miss the last 11 games and counting.

It's not like the results aren't there for the 24-year-old outfielder. He's hit 38 home runs and driving in 136 runs during his first two seasons and despite the struggles kicked it into gear. His last seven games prior to his injury, he was hitting .370 with 10 hits, five runs and three stolen bases.

Still, what good does that do if he's spending at least once a year on the injured list? Until he can prove to be healthy, he will fall short of that big deal.

Other rare reason is Rangers' ownership tightening up funds

Yes, the Rangers' ownership over the years has backed off their plan of spending half a billion dollars every offseason. Even more so this past winter after missing the postseason two straight years and having to pay luxury tax penalities, it was Ray Davis's goal to keep payroll under $200 million.

There is indeed risk of giving a young player or even a veteran a high contract. Owners are getting more careful with that because they've been burned. Just look at Boston with Kristian Campbell's deal or the notoriously terrible Anthony Rendon deal with the Angels.

It still hasn't stop some organizations and while it would be nice to have Langford locked up longer than he's currently under contract to do but Davis is already penny pinching and he will for sure keep doing so until a player can prove his worth beyond a shadow of a doubt.

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