Rangers Spring Training Update: Wyatt Langford, Justin Foscue, Cody Bradford

As of Friday afternoon, the Rangers are officially one week into spring training. The first week was a success overall, with the team playing in eight games and winning five of them

With several veteran players sitting out the first week still recovering from injuries, multiple young players who are currently fighting for spots on the Rangers' 40-man roster to start the season were given the opportunity to see some more playing time over the week. Two players who benefited from this were Wyatt Langford and Justin Foscue, who are both currently on the fringes of making the team to start the season here in a few weeks.

Langford appeared in five of the eight games the Rangers played in this week, and did pretty well overall. He made headlines Friday afternoon for hitting his first home run of spring training, which was a 440-foot opposite field bomb going over the right-center wall. Langford's manager Bruce Bochy was impressed by the rookie's power, stating, "You don't see many balls that go there from a right-handed bat. That just shows how strong the man is.”

Rangers Spring Training Update: Wyatt Langford goes yard

Hopefully, Langford can sustain this success throughout the rest of spring training. If he can continue to put up successful at-bats similar to the ones he had Friday afternoon, he will most likely be guaranteed a roster spot to start the season, less than a year after he was drafted.

Another player who is receiving extra play to start spring training is infielder Justin Foscue. Foscue, who played as the Round Rock Express second baseman last season, was known to be a strong hitter who put up big numbers throughout the season, finishing with a .394 on-base percentage. Now, he is looking to get his chance with the Rangers to start the season. Unfortunately, the numbers he was able to put up in the minors have not yet translated over in spring training.

Foscue has appeared in six games so far and currently has an average of .231 to begin the spring. Foscue has been on the receiving end of several strikeouts in his first week, which is somewhat surprising because he was well known for having strong plate discipline during his time in the minors. Hopefully, Foscue can get his swing to cooperate with him here in the next few weeks. He will most likely start his season in the minors. 

Going into the pitching side of things, another young player that got some exposure this week was pitcher Cody Bradford. The Rangers are still trying to decide which role will best suit Bradford during the regular season, whether that be as a part of the starting rotation or as an additional arm in the bullpen who would most likely serve as a multi-inning reliever. Either way, with the pitching staff pretty shallow for the first half of the season, Bradford will be used in some capacity.

So far, he has pitched in two games this spring and has done pretty well in both of them. He pitched an excellent game on Wednesday afternoon facing the Dodgers, and only allowed one hit, no runs and three strikeouts in two innings of work. He also pitched in the Ranger's first game of spring training against the Kansas City Royals. Bradford was not as sharp this game, allowing a run as well as two hits, but he was able to get a strikeout and get the Rangers out of a jam.

Bochy has been impressed with what he has seen out of Bradford so far this spring, saying, “Of course, he’s got the good changeup and the breaking ball has just gotten better. I have to like what I'm seeing from him.” Hopefully, Bradford can continue to pitch well through spring and be the Rangers' answer to who covers the back of the rotation until Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom return for the second half of the season.

Overall, the first week of spring training went well for the Rangers. They will look to get a win on Saturday against the Chicago White Sox, who they will be facing for the first time this spring. Jon Gray will be on the mound making his first appearance of the spring.