With the offense slumping, one Rangers star is ready to take the reins and lead

The Texas Rangers are certainly hoping that parting ways with Donnie Ecker and replacing him with Bret Boone will lead to an offensive resurgence the likes of which they haven’t seen since 2023. If that doesn’t work, count outfielder Wyatt Langford as one who wants to step up and into a leadership position and try to help the team break out of its collective slump.

Langford is still a young player in just his second season, but his rookie campaign was good enough that he drew plenty of praise. This year, he’s one of the few hitters who has been productive, hitting .297 and posting a 165 OPS+ so far. And while that performance is leading the team on the field, he believes he’s ready to be vocal in the clubhouse, too.

Wyatt Langford could be the leader the Rangers need right now

The Texas Rangers youngster recently spoke to Jared Sandler about becoming more of a leader and stepping up after mostly keeping his head down in 2024.

“Last year, I was like, man, this is a really good team. They just won the World Series or whatever, so I'm not going to step out of line at all,” Langford said. “I'm going to just kind of do my thing. But now I feel like I can kind of say a couple more things, you know, and I feel like people might want to hear what I have to say a little more.”

At the same time, Langford understands that someone can’t just decide they’re going to be a leader and just automatically have his Rangers teammates following him or listening to what he has to say.

"I try to do my best to be a leader in whatever way I can. I mean, I'm not going to go up there and act like I know everything. I mean, we've got multiple guys that have been in the league for 10-plus years. It's kind of one of those things where you've just got to know kind of where you stand, but I like being able to help any way I can."

It’s felt like there might be a lack of real clubhouse steadying force for the Texas Rangers so far this season. Perhaps a change in coaches can give the young outfielder to show he’s found his voice.