Rangers spring training: Jacob deGrom and Wyatt Langford find success in spring debut

The Texas Rangers took a giant step forward to the 2025 regular season with two of their main players finally making their spring debut on Saturday.

It's been three weeks since spring training games began and while most players have been actively participating for Texas, there were two notable absences in pitcher Jacob deGrom and outfielder Wyatt Langford. But both thankfully returned to the field on Saturday and their performance were as if they had never left.

Jacob deGrom's spring debut goes off without a hitch

Despite Friday's rain delaying deGrom's debut by a day, he took the mound with the Rangers on Saturday afternoon against Kansas City.

As we all hoped would be the case, deGrom was speical, throwing two perfect innings. The right-hander threw 31 pitches (21 for strikes) while striking out three batters, including Bobby Witt Jr., Kyle Isbel and Tyler Gentry.

deGrom's first start was a bit later in spring than envisioned, especially since fans were wondering how he'd have time to get his body ready for the season opener later this month. Turns out the Rangers had different plans, not wanting to push him too hard at the beginning they decided to start him in the back end of the starting rotation to start the year. Texas has four scheduled off days from March 27 to April 1 so making deGrom the fifth starter in the rotation will benefit him by giving him extra days of rest between starts in the season's first full month.

And he looked good on Saturday, topping off his four-seam at 97 mph and presenting as deadly as a slider as ever. It's a great sign as he's finally healthy and the season is quickly approaching. A healthy deGrom will be a giant x-factor for the team's success in 2025.

Wyatt Langford officially begins his second year

Just like deGrom, Langford was supposed to debut and DH for Texas on Friday evening before the rare Arizona rainfall canceled their game against Colorado. But he was right back in the lineup Saturday playing left field and hitting third.

In true Langford fashion, he took the third pitch he saw from Daniel Lynch IV to dead center for a single, which came off the bat at 97.6 mph. Then in even more Langford fashion he drew a five-pitch walk then he advanced to third on a double and scored on a Kevin Pillar sac fly. All in all, he finished the day 1-for-3, a single, walk and a run before being replaced by Alejandro Osuna in the sixth inning.

Langford's start to the spring was delayed until Texas' 15th game due to a mild oblique strain that sidelined him from baseball activities for about a week. He returned to throwing, running and hitting put took extra time to ramp back up before getting into a game.

The 23-year-old played 134 games for the Rangers in his rookie season last year, finishing the season hitting .253/.325/.415 with 16 home runs, 74 RBIs, 25 doubles and 19 stolen bases. He had a scorching final month of the year, hitting half of his season home run total in that 26 game span. Langford was named the American League Rookie of the Month for September.

He enters the season expected to be a big contributor as the team's primary left fielder and slotting into the batting order behind Marcus Semien and Corey Seager at the top.

• The Rangers should package Jack Leiter in a trade for top NL East pitcher

• 5 key takeaways from MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Texas Rangers' prospect list

• Which pitcher will be the first Cy Young winner in Texas Rangers history?