Why Rangers fans should be excited about Wyatt Langford looking toward 2025

Wyatt Langford went into the 2024 season with the highest expectations of any Rangers rookie in a long time. He was drafted fourth overall after a dominant senior season at Florida in 2023. When he first appeared in the minors for the Texas Rangers organization, it was more of the same.

No one was surprised when he made the Rangers Opening Day roster out of spring training, even though it was less than a year since he had been drafted. What did surprise people was how he struggled through the first half of the season.

The way he moved through the minors and spring training made it look like he would transition into a quality major league player with ease. That was not the case and was never going to be the case.

Regular season major league pitching is a different animal than spring training, and vastly superior to what Langford saw in the minors. Additionally, adjusting to a regular season that is three times as long as the one he saw in college can be very tough.

Why Rangers fans should be excited about Wyatt Langford looking toward 2025

Langford's growing pains were largely normal, but his expectations weren't. Ultimately, he improved a lot through the course of the 2024 season. He ended the campaign with a .740 OPS, a decent bit higher than the league average of .711 . It was a successful rookie season that saw Langford become more comfortable, confident, and consistent.

Fangraphs projects Langford to have a .783 OPS with 22 home runs and 85 RBIs for the 2025 season. Those would be solid improvements from 2024, but I think those are conservative estimates. Langford flashed the ability to produce consistent power in September with a .996 OPS, 8 home runs, and 20 RBIs when he finally adjusted to being a big league starter.

I could see him with 25 homers, 90+ RBIs, and an OPS north of .800 next season. Those numbers would have made him top 5 among left fielders last season in all 3 categories.

These All-Star level predictions come from both his strong finish to 2024 and another characteristic Langford has shown that hints he could be destined for great things.

The rookie was clutch with a propensity for being at his best in big moments. Langford's walk-off grand slam on September 3rd against the Yankees' All-Star closer, Clay Holmes, was perhaps the most flamboyant example. It was his third walk-off hit of the year, which gave him the team lead as a rookie.

It's a skill that all of the best athletes in the world share, and it is something that really can't be taught. This trait will propel Wyatt Langford to be a star. The stats are promising, but they don't tell the full story of what his ceiling can truly be.